


Everything Changes

by ShutUpAndPaddle



Category: CSI: Miami
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-29
Updated: 2013-01-03
Packaged: 2017-11-22 21:55:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 28,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/614768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShutUpAndPaddle/pseuds/ShutUpAndPaddle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything changes for the CSI team and a new team member is introduced.<br/>Story 1</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Everything Changes

Chapter 1  
The beginning of a new week raced round the corner and the team had just solved another case. While the rest of the team relaxed for a while and cleared up for the night shift, Calleigh had seemed distant and wasn’t quite herself. Eric pulled her to the side.  
“Calleigh, is everything okay with you? You seem a little distant today.” Eric asked with a sympathetic look. Calleigh looked into his caring brown eyes. “I’m okay, thank you Eric. Just a little headache, that’s all.” Eric placed a gentle hand on her shoulder “Okay, if you need anything, give me a call.” Calleigh smiled “Thank you, Eric.” He smiled back at her as he turned to walk to his locker and picked up his things. ‘Why did we ever break up?’ Eric thought to himself as he swallowed.  
Ryan walked in to the locker room to pick a few of his things up.  
“Hey, is there something wrong with Calleigh? She doesn’t seem herself.” Ryan asked concerned about his colleague and friend.  
“I just spoke with her, she said she just had a headache.” Eric turned to look at Ryan.  
“Fair enough, she was in early today; I guess she’s just a little tired. You want to come out for a beer tonight?’ Ryan asked casually leaning against his locker.  
“Sure, let me get my things together. Have you asked Frank, I’m sure he’ll join” Eric closed his locker and turned to Ryan. They headed toward the door just as Frank walked in.  
“Hey, you boys wanna’ come out for a beer?” Frank said as he stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame.  
“We were about to ask you the same thing!” Eric smiled. Calleigh stormed past the locker room in a hurry, she didn’t seem too happy. She didn’t even acknowledge the three of them standing there.  
“Woah! Must be that time of the month!” Ryan sniggered.  
“Ryan!” Eric snapped. Frank chuckled. Calleigh walked into the lift and crossed her arms.  
“Well, there’s definitely something getting her worked up!” Ryan said.  
“Right, are we going for this beer or what?” Frank quickly said to change the subject.  
“We sure are” Eric calmly said, still looking slightly concerned. They walked out of the locker room and made their way over to the lift. Horatio walked by with his head buried in a case file.  
“Hey H! You wanna’ join us for a drink?” Frank said as he turned to face Horatio.  
“No, that’s okay, thank you gentlemen, I have some paperwork to complete.” Horatio carried on walking as the three men boarded the lift. They jumped into their cars and headed home and agreed to meet at 8 at a local bar.  
Meanwhile, Calleigh was on her way home when her phone rang. She left it as she was driving and if it was important, they would leave a message. It rang again, she picked it up and looked at the caller ID, it was her boyfriend, Jay. She answered.  
“Where the hell are you!?”  
“I’m on my way home now! I told you 10 minutes ago!” Calleigh said frustrated.  
“You should be here by now! What have you been doing?”  
“I’ll be there in 2 minutes, I’ll see you then!!” She hung up. She arrived at her place and got out of her car and walked up to her door. The door opened and a tall well-built man was standing there.  
“What on Earth have you been doing!?” He said with a raised voice. Calleigh pushed past him.  
“I’ve been at work! Where else would I have been?”  
“You finished work ages ago! You’re late!” he responded raising his voice louder.  
“I’m never home when I technically finish work! You know that! I always have something to finish up or something! And don’t you raise your voice at me, Jay!” She said getting more frustrated.  
“I will raise my voice to you whenever I like Calleigh!! You’ve not been at work have you! Don’t lie to me!” He yelled as he followed her through to the kitchen, she placed her bag down on the island counter.  
“I’ve been at work, Jay! I’ve been at work all day and I certainly don’t need this from you right now!” She raised her voice slightly.  
“Yeah right, Calleigh!! I know you’ve been to see your ‘boyfriend’! Who is he?” His face beginning to go red.  
“I’ve been at work!! I’m not seeing anyone!” Calleigh snapped, now going slightly red in the face herself.  
“Who is he?!” Jay screamed, backing Calleigh into the corner.  
“Jay, back off now!” Calleigh raised her voice, warning him.  
“WHO IS HE?” Jay screamed again.  
“Jay! Back off now!!” Jay grabbed Calleigh’s arm.  
“Get off me now, Jay!” Calleigh grew angry.  
“Not until you tell me who he is!” Jay yelled.  
“I’m not seeing anyone!! Now back off or I’ll arrest you!” Calleigh began to push him back.  
“How dare you push me!! Get off you bitch!” He screamed and slapped Calleigh across the face. She looked down, dropping her head, holding her cheek.  
“Get… out, NOW!” She screamed at him! His eyes went wide, he had realised what he had done, he let go of her arm and slowly backed off.  
“GET OUT!” Calleigh screamed at him.  
“Fine you crazy bitch!” He looked her in the eye.  
“Don’t you EVER come back here or I’ll have you arrested.” She said through gritted teeth trying to contain her anger. Jay slammed the front door shut after him. Calleigh took a deep breath to try and calm herself. It didn’t work, the more she thought about it, the more she grew angry. She was frustrated because she hadn’t thrown him out sooner. ‘What the FUCK was I thinking? Why did I not throw him out sooner! He’s a fucking arsehole, you’ve known that a long time!’ She thought, growing even angrier with herself. It was the first time he had raised a hand to her and it sure as hell was going to be the last. She broke down and sat on her kitchen floor, unsure what to do with herself. 

At the bar, the three men hand met and Eric brought a round of beers. They sat and discussed the last case. The subject quickly changed on to Calleigh.  
“Hey, don’t you think Calleigh has been acting a little strange lately, she seems a little distracted.” Ryan casually began the conversation.  
“Not really, then again, I don’t often work many cases with her.” Frank said looking to Eric.  
“I had asked her a few times if she was okay, she always said she was so I just left it at that. If she wanted to talk about something, I’m sure she would have said something.” Eric said and sipped his beer.  
“Yeah, perhaps she’s just tired; she’s not had a break from work in months.” Ryan said as he brought the beer up to his lips. A slim woman walked past them and their eyes all simultaneously met with her ass.  
“Yeah…” Frank said staring. They all then realised they were staring so stopped.  
“Anyway, what are you guys up to Saturday?” The conversation carried on while they discussed various things. They got a few more rounds in.

Back at Calleigh’s, she took at hot shower to try and calm herself, but it didn’t seem to work. She was so stressed from work, the cases were really grinding at her and then there was her pig of a boyfriend. She then thought about her drunken father, it upset her even more. She broke down in the shower too, she had to get out and then changed into her lazy clothes. She walked into the kitchen and took a few shots of vodka. ‘Well, if it works for him, then it should work for me’ she thought, hoping it would calm her down slightly. She was wrong, it only exacerbated her emotions and she was at breaking point, she could feel herself being pushed over the edge.  
‘WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!” She screamed out, and sunk to the floor; tears streaming down her eyes, her head pounding and pressure building up in her sinuses. She brought her knees to her head. 

The next morning Horatio arrived early at work and began filling out paper work. Eric, Ryan and Frank arrived, shortly after Alexx. There wasn’t a sign of Calleigh yet.  
“Hey Wolfe, you seen Calleigh yet?” Eric said loudly from across the lab. Ryan walked over.  
“No, not yet. She’s probably just a little late.” Ryan said as he picked up a case file.  
“Yeah” Eric said with a slightly concerned and confused look on his face. ‘Calleigh is never late, she never has been.’ He thought to himself.  
“You want a coffee? I’m just going to make one” Ryan asked as he pulled his head out of the file, then noticed the look on Eric’s face.  
“Hey, she’s fine, you watch, she’ll be through those doors in a few minutes complaining about traffic. It was horrendous this morning.” Ryan said trying to comfort Eric.  
“Yeah, you’re right and a yes to the coffee, thank you!” Eric seemed to relax a little more.  
Horatio sat in his office when he received a call he answered it.  
“Caine”  
“Hey H, it’s Frank, we have a DB, we need you guys here soon please. It’s at 285 Star Island.”  
“I’ll send them over now, thanks Frank” The call ended.  
Horatio got up and found Ryan.  
“Ryan, I need you and Calleigh to go over to 285 Star Island, we have a DB.”  
“Calleigh hasn’t turned up yet, H”  
“Well, give her a ring then.” Horatio turned and walked away back to his office. He was still obsessing about the Judge Joseph Ratner case. ‘I’ve missed something, I know I have’ Horatio thought to himself.  
Ryan rang Calleigh on her cell phone. She didn’t answer.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

“Hey Calleigh isn’t answering her phone, Eric.” Ryan started to get a little concerned.  
“Have you tried her home phone, she’s probably just left her cell upstairs if she’s still at home. Or she could be driving.” Eric answered.  
“Good idea, I’ll try now.” Ryan tried her home phone again, there was no answer. Ryan looked at Eric, both of them growing concerned.   
“What do we do?” Ryan asked Eric.  
“We’ll just go and notify H, and drive by hers.” Eric answered. They walked over to Horatio’s office and walked in when Horatio greeted them.  
“Gentlemen, what can I do for you?” Horatio looked at them, noticing their concerned faces.  
“We can’t get hold of Calleigh, we’ve tried her cell and home.” Ryan immediately answered.  
“We were just letting you know that we’re just going to take a detour over to her house on the way to the Star Island case.” Eric said after Ryan had finished.  
“Okay, let me know. Alexx should be at the crime scene now, or on her way, so I need you two to hurry up.” Horatio answered.  
“Okay H, we’ll be quick. Thank you.” Eric said. They both turned and walked away.  
They got into a hummer and drove over to Calleigh’s house. Eric knocked on the door and there was no response. He called out her name, yet again, there was no response. They knew she hadn’t left for work as her car was still out the front. Ryan looked through the letter box and down the end of the hall he could see a blood stain on the wall.  
“We need to get in there now Eric, there’s blood of the wall!” Ryan said frantically.   
“Stand back Ryan!” Eric raised his voice slightly as he withdrew his gun. Ryan did the same and stood back. Eric kicked at her front door, he kicked it 4 times before the door gave in. They ran in guns drawn cautiously. Ryan went through to the kitchen and then back through to the dining room while Eric went straight for the living room which had blood spatter on the walls. He cautiously approached the room and turned the corner fast. He saw somebody with blond hair matted with blood sat on the sofa. Behind her there was high velocity spatter on the wall.   
“Calleigh?” Eric cautiously approached. He reached her and saw a gun in her limp hand and her mouth open with dried blood everywhere.  
“CALLEIGH?” Eric panicked. Ryan came through to the living room, both putting their guns away. Eric stood in shock staring at Calleigh’s lifeless body. Ryan carefully approached her and placed his fingers on her neck in hope of finding that she still had a pulse. He looked round to Eric and shook his head. Eric stood open mouthed shocked. Ryan pulled out his phone.  
“We need back up to Calleigh Duquesnes house, immediately.” The hung up and diled another number.  
“Horatio, we have a problem, it’s Calliegh, she’s… she’s” Ryan sighed and put his other hand on his head he frantically began looking around, for any signs.  
“Mr. Wolfe, sorry? What’s going on? What’s the problem?” Horatio calmly said.  
“Horatio, you need to get here now, Calleigh’s… dead.” Ryan becoming more frantic. Eric still speechless.  
“She’s what? I’ll be right over, you stay where you are!” Horatio hung up and jumped into his hummer and made his way over to her house. Back-up arrived and walked in.  
“Eric, come on Eric, go outside.” They walked out just as Horatio walked towards them.  
“What happened?!” Horatio asked, in a calm manner, but concern written all over his face.   
“Calleigh, she… I think she… may have killed herself.” Ryan said shook up.   
Horatio walked into the house and found Calleigh on the sofa, with the gun in her right hand resting on her lap. Blood and brain matter spattered over the wall and ceiling behind.   
Horatio ran a hand through his hair and turned around. He found what appeared to be a note on the coffee table in front of the sofa. He put a glove on and picked it up. He began to read.  
‘I am sorry, so sorry. I could not handle things anymore, I was pushed over the edge and could not get myself back. I took the easy option out, I’m a coward. Right now, it seems as though this is the only option. I apologise to my team, I hope to God none of you are the ones that found me. I don’t want any of you to blame yourselves, you are all the reason why I took so long to finally come to this conclusion. You helped me to get through many things, but I couldn’t handle things anymore. I’m sorry. Calleigh Duquesne.’ Horatio looked up and around. He couldn’t believe what he was reading. He had to read it again. He looked over to Calleigh.  
“I’m so sorry, Calleigh” he whispered. He placed the note down again. He walked out of the house and met with Ryan and Eric.   
“From what it looks like now, I think it’s suicide. But I’m going to get another team in to investigate, okay? You are to leave this case alone.” Both of them looked in shock.  
Horatio pulled out his phone and called in another team. Once he hand done that, he looked over to Eric and Ryan.  
“Are you two okay?” He asked with a caring expression.  
“Yeah…” Ryan said with a long exhaled breath.  
“Eric? Are you okay?” He looked into Eric’s eyes and saw the hurt and pain.  
“Yeah, I’m… I’m okay.” Eric said with a whisper looking at Horatio.  
“Are you sure Eric?” Horatio placed a hand on Eric’s shoulder. Eric seemed to snap out of his daze.  
“Yeah, I’m okay.” He said and took a deep breath in. Another team arrived at the scene and started to process.   
“I know this is tough, but we’re going to get through this okay?”  
“yeah, H” They both said in unison.   
“Now, can you both make it to the Star Island crime scene, or would you like the day off? I can get another team to process.” Horatio said with a concerned look on his face.  
“No, no, we can do this, can’t we Ryan. We’ll be fine. We’ll let you know what we find.” Eric said calmly, then took another deep breath.   
“Are you sure?” Horatio asked.  
“We’re sure, H” Ryan answered. Ryan and Eric walked over to their hummer and drove off.


	3. Chapter 3

They arrived at the Star Island crime scene, a man had been stabbed. Alexx was looking over the body. A woman was stood watching her; the woman was the man’s wife. She had blood all over her hands and shirt. They walked over slowly to Alexx. She heard them walk up and quickly glanced back to them then back to the body.  
“Where have you two been? It’s been ages.” Alexx said jokingly.  
“Alexx…” Eric said with concern. She heard the concern in his voice and turned around to see them both in a state of shock, standing looking at her.   
“What’s wrong baby?” She said and stood up and turned to give them her full attention.  
“Alexx… Calleigh… Calleigh…” Eric took a breath. Concern quickly over took Alexx’s face.   
“It’s okay baby, just tell me what happened.” She said looking at them both.  
“Calleigh is dead” Eric said with sincerity.  
“Calleigh’s what?” Alexx said with tears starting to build up in her eyes.  
“We think that she may have killed herself, that’s what the evidence is telling us at the moment anyway.” Ryan quickly said. Alexx fought back the tears.  
“Horatio has put another team on to the case, they’re working as we speak.” Ryan followed on.   
“Oh my God” Alex gasped and then let out a deep breath.   
“I know it’s hard, but we have to get on and process this scene and try to carry on.” Ryan said with a slightly shaky voice. Alexx was speechless.  
“Alexx, are you okay?” Eric said, the concern in his eyes growing.  
“Yeah, I’m okay baby, it’s just a shock. Give me a minute.” Alexx said then she turned and looked out over the garden to try and collect her emotions.   
“Eric, you want to take the woman, I’ll process this over here” Ryan said  
“Yeah, sure, okay. I’ll do that.” Eric said.  
“You sure you’re okay man?” Ryan asked quietly.  
“Yeah, I’m okay, Ryan, now let’s get on and do our jobs.” Eric said trying to concentrate on the crime scene in hand. They processed and got back to the lab. Horatio arrived back at the lab and walked into his office. He sat down and called Eric.  
“Eric, can you meet me in my office please” Horatio asked calmly.  
“sure, I’ll be right there, H.” Eric answered and hung up. He walked over to Horatio’s office and gently knocked on the door.   
“Come in Eric” Horatio said and looked up from the open file on his desk. He closed the file.  
“You wanted to see me, H?” Eric asked.  
“Yes, I do Eric, have a seat” Eric sat and looked at Horatio.  
“Are you okay Eric? You can have some time off if you feel you need it.” Horatio gently asked.  
“H, I’m fine, really, it was a massive shock to me, and to everyone, but I’m okay. I don’t need any time off, thank you.” Eric quickly answered him.  
“Okay, take this card, it’s for a councillor, if you need to talk, they’ll be willing to talk with you, as will I. The councillor will keep you anonymous if you wish, just take the card in case okay? I’m always here for you Eric.” Eric nodded.  
“How’s the case coming along?” Horatio asked to try and change the subject.  
“It’s going well, we think the wife did it, the evidence is all pointing to her at this moment, but we’re still investigating.” Eric said professionally. Horatio nodded.  
“Okay, I’ll let you get back to work, Eric” Horatio said and then looked back down to the file that was below on the desk. Eric got up.  
“Thanks, H.” They gave each other a nod as a sign of appreciation. Horatio then called Ryan into his office. The conversation went the same way, however, Ryan was a little more talkative. Ryan had asked Horatio if they had found anything to do with Calleigh.  
“It seems as though she had a bit of alcohol, we’re still waiting on tox to confirm it though, her writing suggests that she had had something to drink.” Horatio said honestly.  
“Writing?” Ryan questioned not knowing about the note.  
“We found a note at the scene, it appears to be a suicide note, we found that it had some liquid on parts of the paper, some of it came back to be lysozyme, which indicated that she was crying while writing the note. We also found her prints on the paper with alcohol. She perhaps spilled some alcohol and it came off when she touched the paper.” Horatio said with a sigh.   
“We are still awaiting on some results though” He sighed again.  
“I feel so sorry for her, she had seemed a little distant, but I was never really close enough to have a conversation with her about it.” Ryan said with concern still radiating through his expression.   
“I know, try to not think about it though, you need your full attention on your current case, which I hear is going well.” Horatio again trying to change the subject.   
“Yeah, anyway, I think I should get back to work now, thank you Horatio.” Horatio nodded at Ryan. Ryan got up and quickly left. Horatio got up and walked down to the autopsy room where Alexx was examining the dead husband.   
“Got anything for me, Alexx?” he said as he walked through the doors.   
“Hey baby, I’ve got stab wounds, which don’t seem to penetrate too deep and I also found a tip of a blade.” Alexx said as she held up the tip in an evidence packet. She handed it to Horatio, he took it and held it up.  
“Looks like it could be a match to our murder weapon.” He said looking down at the deceased man.  
“If you ask me, I think the wife did this, the wounds are telling me that a woman was the killer and she had blood all over her this morning honey.” Alexx said calmly, stitching up the body.  
“It certainly looks that way, Alexx, thank you” Horatio said as he went to turn away.   
“Horatio honey, is there any news on Calleigh?” Horatio turned to Alexx and studied her a little.  
“Well, Alexx, it appears to be suicide at this moment in time, we’ll know more soon.” Horatio said looking down at the man’s body.  
“Okay honey, keep me updated please?” Alexx made eye contact with Horatio.  
“Will do Alexx, will do.” Horatio quickly turned and walked back out.


	4. Chapter 4

The team had solved the case and found that indeed the wife was the killer, Calleigh’s case was still on-going. The team had collected all the evidence from Calleigh’s house. The team had found that Calleigh had a boyfriend. Horatio received a call asking whether he or the team knew if Calleigh had a boyfriend. Horatio asked around and no-one knew. Horatio’s team now getting wound up, thinking that it was the boyfriend, because Calleigh surely couldn’t have done something like that to herself.   
“She wouldn’t have done that! It has to be the boyfriend! Are they bringing him in?” Eric said frustrated.  
“They’re trying to find out who he is first. They’ve got DNA, but there hasn’t been a match. Don’t worry, they’ll find him.” Horatio said looking at the floor trying to piece things together.   
“If I get my hands on him I’ll…” Horatio cut Eric off.  
“Eric, calm down, we don’t know if he’s got anything to do with this yet.” Horatio said with a hand on Eric’s shoulder. Eric took a deep breath.   
A few hours passed and Horatio received another call.  
“We’ve got the boyfriend, he says he has nothing to do with it.”   
“Well, we’ll let the evidence be the judge of that.” Horatio answered with venom in his tone.   
“I’ll let you know if we find anything else out.” They hung up. Horatio then received another call – it was from the M.E who had found that Calleigh had an unseen bruise on her cheek. They sent the pictures to Horatio who stormed out of his office and down into the interrogation room where Jay was being held. He excused the current interrogator, once they left Horatio threw the picture of the bruise on Calleigh’s cheek on the desk in front of Jay.   
“Explain!!” Horatio said with anger building up.   
“I…I had nothing to do with that! I didn’t kill her!” Jay answered.  
“Well then, how on Earth did she get this bruise then? She didn’t do it herself! She was hit while she was alive! You better start talking!” Horatio said whilst leaning over the table to get closer to his face.   
“Woah man, calm down!” Jay said leaning back.  
“You know, for someone who’s just lost their partner, you don’t seem pretty cut up. Why’s that?” Horatio said as he leaned in closer.   
“I didn’t kill her!” Jay said.  
“So you keep saying! I’m finding that very hard to believe right now!” Horatio argued.  
“So what am I supposed to do then?!” Jay snapped.  
“Tell the truth! When was the last time you saw her?” Horatio said through gritted teeth.  
“I saw her last night.” Jay said lowering his eyebrows.  
“Funny that, that’s when she died!” Horatio snapped.  
“When I left she was alive, okay!” Jay said.  
“Why did you leave? Did you have an argument, did you hit her? DID YOU KILL HER?!” Horatio began to grow angrier.   
“For the last time, I didn’t kill her! We had a small argument.” Jay sighed and exhaled.  
“Did you hit her?” Horatio exhaled violently.  
“No.” Jay said still sitting back.  
“DID you hit her?” Horatio asked forcefully, trying to keep a lid on.   
“Yes, I did. I hit her once she then threw me out, I walked out and slammed the door behind me. That’s the last time I saw her.” Jay said leaning forward and met Horatio’s gaze.  
“You hit her then you killed her, didn’t you!” Horatio took a breath and leaned back trying to keep his cool.   
“I didn’t kill her, I swear! I just hit her.” Jay said.  
“Just? You JUST hit her? You know that’s battery, don’t you? You disgust me; you should be thrown in jail and the key thrown away.” Horatio said with venom.   
“I didn’t kill her.” Jay responded.  
“We’ll see about that, take him away.” Horatio said through gritted teeth. Horatio took out his phone and made a phone call.  
“I need a rush on the prints and DNA on the gun.” He put the phone down. A few hours later Horatio received another call.  
“The prints on the gun are a match”  
“A match to who?” Horatio asked impatiently.


	5. Chapter 5

“The prints on the gun are a match”  
“A match to who?” Horatio asked impatiently.  
“Calleigh.” Horatio brought his hand up and pinched the bridge of his nose as he scrunched up his eyes.  
“Okay, thank you. Have you got anything else for me?” Horatio sighed.  
“All we have is evidence showing that it was Calleigh who pulled that trigger. We have nothing on Jay. All we can do him for is battery. We’re going to have to close the case.”  
“Right, well you make sure we get him done for battery, I don’t want to let him off lightly. Thank you.” Horatio sighed then hung up. Horatio hung his head, still not wanting to believe that Calleigh would have done this. He slid his phone into his pocket and then went to find the rest of the team to update them. He called them all into one of the labs. Alexx, Frank, Eric and Ryan all met in the lab Horatio walked in and all eyes were on him.  
“They’ve now closed Calleigh’s case. They found that she was the one who pulled the trigger and it is suicide. However, Jay has been sent down for battery, he admitted to hitting Calleigh last night. I’m very sorry to inform you all. If any of you would like some time off, you’re welcome to.” Horatio said only briefly making eye contact with each of them, but mainly looking down at the floor.   
“Thank you for letting us know Horatio.” Alexx said as she walked past him and gently stroked his arm. She walked out quickly and finished writing up a report. Frank, Eric and Ryan each nodded and didn’t say a word. Horatio went back to his office to fill out paperwork.  
Alexx had to leave the autopsy room and visit the loo, she could feel herself on the verge of tears. She tried to calm herself down in the bathroom and cleared herself up. She took a deep breath and returned to finishing the report. They were all shocked and upset about it.  
A few weeks passed, the team still trying to sort themselves out after the tragedy of Calleigh. Naturally, they were still slightly unsettled, but were a lot better than they were when it initially happened. They attended her funeral ceremony which was beautiful.   
Another week passed and Horatio was looking for another team member. He remembered a young woman who he had met while he was briefly up in New York, her name was Zoë Chambers, he recalled that she was a very memorable woman. Horatio didn’t know her all too well, in fact, he only really knew her name and that she was a dedicated worker, he pulled her work file up and found that she had a Masters in Chemistry and minored in Forensic Science while she studied for her Bachelorette, also having attended very prestigious schools. He was impressed about her record and made a few phone calls. He found that she had recently moved down to Miami. ‘This is all too perfect.’ Horatio thought to himself, he sat thinking. He made another call and then finally gave Zoë herself a call. He offered for her to come in and talk with him. She gratefully accepted.   
The next day Zoë walked into the lab and met with Horatio, they greeted each other and Horatio quickly walked her through to his office.   
“Please do sit down, Zoë.” Horatio said as he gestured to the chair in front of his desk while he walked around and sat behind his desk. They were having a conversation and then Horatio decided that she’d be perfect to work with the team. He offered her a job and she very quickly took the job, she didn’t have one as she had moved down to Miami from New York and was in the process of looking for one. She thanked Horatio and they then discussed when she’d start work. Horatio said that she’d initially be observing Eric and Ryan, just to make sure she was up to scratch with her skills as New York and Miami use different procedures. Horatio asked when she was able to start.  
“I can begin any time you want me to.” She replied with a big smile on her face.   
“How about tomorrow?” Horatio asked cautiously, wondering whether he had just pushed it a little.  
“Tomorrow sounds great, what time?” Her smile grew even bigger.   
“7am start.” Horatio said with a small smile happy that he thought about picking Zoë for the role.   
“Great, I look forward to it!” Zoë said beaming. Horatio stood up with Zoë and they walked out of the office. Horatio walked her through the lab and on the way saw Eric and Ryan walking through the lab with their heads in case files discussing the details together.   
“Gentlemen” Horatio greeted the two of them, they looked up and their eyes quickly wandered over to Zoë.   
“Gentlemen, this is Zoë Chambers, she’ll be working with us as from tomorrow.” Both of them stared at her, Ryan’s mouth opened.   
“Zoë, this is Eric and this is Ryan.” Horatio gestured towards them.  
“Hi guys” Zoë said with a brilliant smile. Eric and Ryan just stared, Zoë was a petite woman who obviously spent some time at the gym, she had long brown hair which had been curled and deep brown eyes with a brilliant smile. She had developed quite a tan from spending the last two weeks in Miami.   
“Gentlemen?” Horatio asked staring at both of them, he knew they were shocked as Zoë was a beautiful woman. They snapped out of their daze.  
“Sorry, hi Zoë! Nice to meet you!” Eric said and went to shake her hand. Ryan closed his mouth.  
“Sorry, hi there, I’m Ryan, very nice to meet you!” Ryan said excitedly, he involuntarily took a step forwards, closer to her and she immediately backed off.  
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to–” Ryan began but was quickly cut off.  
“Don’t worry about it, nice to meet you.” Zoë said as she held out her hand, standing a distance from Ryan, Ryan shook, feeling embarrassed. They saw the panicked expression across her face quickly dissipate.  
“You two should get back to work.” He eyed them both, giving them the move along quickly. They turned away. Horatio turned to Zoë.  
“I’m sorry about that.” He said with a small smile, trying not to smile too much, but he couldn’t help but smile. He found their response entertaining, but was a little startled by her panicked response when Ryan stepped closer.   
“Don’t worry about it.” She said also grinning herself. Horatio walked her to the lift and then left Zoë.  
“I’ll see you tomorrow, bright and early!” She said smiling at him.  
“Certainly!” Even Horatio found himself staring at her a little. Once the lift closed Horatio went back to his office, grinning like a Cheshire Cat.   
Eric and Ryan had walked into prints lab.  
“Damn, she’s hot! I bet Horatio is doing this on purpose, he knows we won’t concentrate with her around.” Ryan said jokingly.  
“Tell me about it, I can’t believe you stood there with your mouth open like a child.” Eric said laughing.  
“I didn’t have my mouth open!” Ryan said defensively.  
“Yes you did!” He laughed again.  
Ryan sighed and sniggered realising that he did in fact stare at her with his mouth open.  
“Oh no, I did, didn’t I?” Ryan said with a cheeky grin.  
“Yes, you really did.” They laughed about it, Horatio then walked in and found them laughing about something.  
“Want to share with the class, gentlemen?” Horatio said looking at them both.  
“It’s just how Ryan stared at Zoë with an open mouth.” Eric said with a massive grin.  
“Eric!” Ryan said defensively.  
“Yes, I noticed that, Ryan.” Horatio eyed Ryan.  
“I’m sorry H, she’s fit though, I couldn’t help myself.” Ryan said gingerly.  
“I want you both to remain professional, she’s a dedicated worker and I expect you both to show her the same amount of respect that you’d show any other person. She may be as you put it ‘fit’, but that is no reason to stare and disrespect her.” Horatio gave them a small smile, letting them know that they got off lightly this time.   
“I know H, we’re sorry, you just caught us off guard, that’s all, it won’t happen again.” Eric said respectively.  
“Okay gentlemen, she starts working with us tomorrow, she’ll be shadowing you both for the day, just to get used to our procedures, she’s from a crime division in New York, so she just needs to catch up on our procedures. She’ll catch on quick, she’s a very smart woman, so don’t patronise her.” Horatio said just to drill it into them that she is a mature woman and deserves respect.   
“Sure H, thanks.” Ryan said. They nodded at each other and Horatio turned to walk back out of the lab.   
The next day, Zoë turned up bright and early along with Eric and Ryan. Horatio was already there, walking about the lab already working. Zoë walked into the lab and met with Eric and Ryan.  
“Hi guys, I’ll be shadowing you for today, is that okay?” Zoë asked a little nervously, but with confidence still flowing from her.   
“Sure!” Ryan said enthusiastically. She smiled as she took another step back from them.  
“We’re just about to go out, we’ve been called out to a shooting.” Eric said professionally, noticing her reaction to close contact and getting the feeling that she was a little uncomfortable with it. They all turned to walk out of the lab as Horatio walked past.  
“Gentlemen… Zoë.” he said as he nodded at them as a way of greeting. They greeted him back. They all walked to collect two hummers.   
“Do you want to ride with me?” Ryan asked excitedly.  
“Sure.” Zoë answered. A huge grin appeared across Ryan’s face.   
“Just that hummer there, I’ll be along in a moment.” Ryan said pointing at the hummer, he looked back to Eric.  
“Easy, you’re way too over enthusiastic! Calm down, Ryan, you’ll scare her off.” Eric said grinning.  
“You’re just jealous.” Ryan said smirked.   
“I’ll meet you there, drive carefully, don’t go showing off, okay?” Eric said smiling at Ryan knowing what he’s like.   
“Okay, I know. See you there.” Ryan said as he turned and jogged over to the hummer where Zoë had sat in the passenger seat. They drove off to the crime scene, parked and got out.   
“If you want to just follow us, Zoë, that’ll be great.” Eric said professionally. They walked up to find Alexx turning the body over.  
“Hi Alexx” Eric said walking up to her a few meters away.  
“Hey baby, could you give me a hand please?” Alexx said not even looking back, her full attention on the body.  
“Sure, hold on.” Eric said as he put his kit down. He helped Alexx.  
“It’s a through and through.” Alexx said.  
“So based on the position of the victim, the bullet should be over there.” Zoë said looking over in the direction of the bullet. Alexx turned around.  
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t realise we had company.” Alexx got up and turned to Zoë. She held out her hand and Zoë shook hands with her.  
“I’m Zoë Chambers, I’m the new CSI, my first day today.”  
“Lovely to meet you Zoë, I’m Alexx Woods, M.E.” They smiled at each other. Ryan walked over in the direction of the bullet, Zoë followed. Alexx turned to Eric.  
“She’s pretty and has brains! Horatio’s picked the right one there.” Alexx said with wide smile.  
“Yeah, I know, when we first met her, Ryan stared at her with an open mouth.” Eric laughed  
“Well, that doesn’t really surprise me.” Alexx said with a slight giggle. The scene was processed and Alexx got the body back to autopsy. Eric and Ryan continued to show her the ropes. At the end of the day Horatio called Zoë into his office.   
“Hi Zoë, do sit down” Horatio said gently and gestured towards the seat in front of him. She sat down.  
“How was your first day then?” Horatio asked with a slight smile and calm blue eyes.  
“It’s been good thank you, Horatio. There isn’t too much difference in the procedures, the only thing that I noticed was that you don’t bag the victims’ hands at the crime scene, and your lab has a better layout and very good equipment!” She said with a brilliant smile.   
“Well, I’m glad to hear that, and thank you. So, do you think you’re ready to start working properly tomorrow? Or would you like to shadow again?” Horatio asked making eye contact with her.  
“I’d quite like to start working properly please.” She beamed another smile his way.   
“I can arrange that, have you met the whole team yet?” Horatio questioned.  
“Yeah, I think so. They’re all really lovely.” She said.  
“That they are. Okay, thank you Zoë, have a great night and I’ll see you tomorrow, if you have any problems or questions, don’t hesitate to ask.”   
“Thank you Horatio, I’ll see you tomorrow and I’d just like to say, thank you for giving me a chance to work here, it really is an honour.” Zoë said kindly as she got up. Horatio nodded at her.  
“No problem.” Zoë left. Horatio’s eyes wandered to her ass. ‘Horatio! Pull yourself together, she’s your colleague!’ He scolded himself, pulling his eyes away and back down to the file he had in front of him.   
Zoë went to her locker to pick up her handbag. Eric and Ryan walked in.  
“Hey Zoë, we’re going out for a few drinks, do you want to join us?” Eric said with a smile.  
“Sure, let me get my things.” Zoë said with a big smile, happy that she had been accepted into the lab.  
“Hey, you wanna’ give Frank a call, Ryan?” Eric said casually.  
“Who’s Frank?” Zoë asked with a smile as she looked over at Eric.  
“Oh, you’ve not met him have you, he’s another colleague of ours, he’s a cop, not a CSI, we work with him regularly.” Eric said leaning against his locker.   
“Sounds good to me” she said smiling. They left and went to the bar, they got to know each other a little more after. Eric and Ryan walked Zoë back to her house. She went in and shut the door.  
“Woah, nice house” Eric said as he turned to Ryan.  
“Yeah, right on the beach front, she must be loaded.” They turned and walked back to their own homes.


	6. Chapter 6

A few weeks passed and Zoë was fitting in very well with the team, she had become good friends with all of them. It was clear to them that in the first couple of weeks, she didn’t like close contact or other people touching her, but they began to notice that with the trust she began to build with them, the closer she’d let them stand or make a small amount of bodily contact with her. Horatio had already picked up on her trust issues and kept to the boundaries, but found that he was one of the few she’d let close to her. He was able to place his hand on her shoulder and arms without her getting freaked, while she still seemed slightly startled when ever Ryan or Eric touched her, but she seemed to deal with it a lot better then she previously had. Frank was still on the side-lines, he couldn’t get too close to her, neither could anyone else for that matter. Alexx could sometimes, but other times she couldn’t.   
Eric and Ryan still glanced over at her when they weren’t in the room with anyone else. They couldn’t help it. Zoë found that she had a soft spot for Horatio, mainly because he genuinely cared about his team so much and was exceptionally dedicated to his job and helping others. Horatio, Eric and Ryan all had a soft spot for her as she demonstrated the same traits; she genuinely cared and wanted to help where ever she could, often going out of her way. She often turned up early and was usually late to leave because she wanted to do all she could to figure out a case as soon as it was possible. She had quickly settled in to the team and was clearly a very confident woman, despite the trust problem. A few more weeks passed and the team were working very well together. They were still slightly unsettled because it wasn’t the same without Calleigh, but they were all recovering from the trauma.  
Frank called Horatio.  
“Horatio Caine”  
“Hi H, it’s Frank, we have a DB, we need you down here now at Dodge Island.”  
“We’ll be right there Frank.” The phone disconnected.   
Horatio got up and found Eric and Zoë.  
“We’ve got a case over at Dodge Island, I need you two to come with me.”  
“Sure thing H.” Eric replied as they collected their kit. They all then walked out to the hummer and drove over to Dodge Island, they got out and walked up to the house. Alexx then arrived and went straight into the house and got to work on the body. It was a young woman. Horatio, Eric and Zoë were stood outside getting the details off Frank.   
“Eric, I’d like you to go round the back and look around, see if you can find anything and the point of entry.” Horatio said as he took his sunglasses off.  
“Zoë, you start to process inside.” He said with his hands on his hips. Frank stood outside getting information from the neighbours while some police officers taped off the crime scene and stood guard.  
Horatio quickly followed Zoë in to the house where they found Alexx leaning over the body in the dining/living room. Zoë and Horatio took a look around while Alexx gave them some details about the body. Zoë’s eyes drew her to a cabinet which was at the other end of the room, her gut instinct told her that there was something about the cabinet that wasn’t quite right. She slowly walked over to it.   
“What have you got Zoë?” Horatio asked from the other end of the room.  
“I’m not sure yet, I’ll let you know.” She said as she reached out to open the cabinet.   
She pulled the cabinet doors open.


	7. Chapter 7

Zoë had opened the cabinet, as she did, they all heard a click, Zoë and Alexx didn’t think anything of it. Alarm bells went off in Horatio’s head. Zoë turned around with a gun in her hand that she had just picked up.  
“GET DOWN NOW! BOMB!” Horatio screamed. Horatio moved to cover Alexx, he certainly didn’t have enough to get to Zoë. Zoë turned and dropped to the floor just as an explosion erupted. Horatio and Alexx were far enough away to remain unharmed apart from a brief ringing in their ears. Everyone heard the explosion, all shocked. Horatio stood up.  
“GET ME THE BOMB SQUAD NOW!” He yelled.   
“Alexx, are you okay?” Horatio said looking down at her, placing his hand on her back.  
“I’m fine honey.” Alexx said as her face filled with concern and heard the deafening ringing in her ears.  
“Zoë? Zoë?!” Horatio called with a raised voice he turned to find her laying on the floor face turned to the right with her hand covering most of her face, she had dropped the gun which laid just to the side of her.   
“Zoë?!” Horatio called again, fearing the worst he cautiously approached her.   
“Call for an ambulance now!” Horatio screamed. Horatio reached Zoë and carefully bent down.  
“Zoë? Can you hear me, Zoë?” Horatio cautiously put his hand out and placed two fingers on her neck to feel for her pulse.   
“GET ME AN AMBULANCE NOW! SHE HAS A PULSE!” He screamed, his eyes quickly scanned across her body for any injuries. She had a nasty cut on her head and a few down her back. The injury to her head was bleeding a lot.   
“Alexx, I need you, can you pass me your kit please? She’s bleeding pretty badly.” Horatio said trying to calm himself down. Alexx got up and carefully walked over to them. She kneeled down and put another pair of gloves on. She placed some gauze on Zoë’s head wound.  
“Zoë baby, can you hear me?” Alexx said calmly as she bent down to get closer. Alexx gently moved Zoë’s right arm away from her face.   
“Honey, can you please swap places please and put pressure on her head wound.” Alexx calmly said. They swapped places so Alexx could get a good look at Zoë’s face.   
“Where the hell is that ambulance!!” Horatio yelled. Alexx got out her pocket torch and lifted Zoë’s eye lids up to shine the light into her eyes.   
“They’re responding well, but I want to get her to the hospital now.” Alexx said very concerned. She looked over the rest of Zoë’s injuries as she knew for the moment that Zoë was stable.   
The bomb squad turned up and walked through to the living room/dining room.  
“There was a bomb planted in this cabinet, you need to search the house, I think it’s probably a trap and was designed to hurt us.” Horatio said hastily. Horatio was holding the gauze on Zoë’s head with his left hand and it was beginning to become soaked with her blood. Alexx handed him some more gauze, he placed it on top of the gauze which was already there.   
“If that ambulance isn’t here within the next 2 minutes, I’m taking her myself.” Horatio said in haste.  
“Honey, you can’t do that, she can’t be moved. She’s sustained a head injury, who knows what’s going on in her head, she could have a neck or back injury for all we know. Stay calm, we’ll sort this out.” Alexx said looking into Horatio’s frustrated blue eyes. Alexx gently lifted the back of Zoë’s jacket to find her white shirt was almost all stained blood red. Finally they heard the sirens of the ambulance getting closer. Horatio was getting more and more frustrated by the second.   
“Honey, don’t worry, she’s going to be fine, remain calm. It’s going to be okay.” Alexx said in a soothing voice, trying to calm him down. Alexx caught Horatio’s gaze. Her eyes calmed him down a little, but she could see the hurt in his. The ambulance pulled up and two paramedics fumbled in.  
“Be careful! There could be more bombs lying around, don’t touch anything!” Horatio said frustrated. The paramedics slowed down and took extra care. Alexx updated them.  
“This is Zoë Chambers, she’s 27 years old, she was close to an explosion that detonated when she opened the cabinet, I think she managed to get to the floor before it completely went off, I’m not too sure though. She has a head wound and lacerations to her back, she’s stable but unresponsive.” Alexx said switching into medical mode.  
“Thank you ma’am” one of the paramedics answered as they both crouched down. One of them took over holding the gauze on her head and Horatio stood up looking around for anything else suspicious. He ran his right hand through his hair, not knowing what to do. The paramedics looked for a response but Zoë didn’t respond. Eric walked in through the front door and through to them. He saw Zoë laying on the floor being treated by the two paramedics.   
“H, what happened?” Eric said with concern seeing the look on his bosses frustrated and very worried face.   
“She opened the cabinet and found a gun, an explosion then went off, I didn’t have time to get over to her and get her down. I think she got to the floor before it went off, but she’s in a bad way at the moment. Once the bomb squad is done, I need you and Ryan to go over this place with a fine tooth comb, I need everything. This is priority number one.” Horatio turned back around to look at Zoë.   
“Sure, H.” Eric said as he walked back out.   
“We need to get her out of here asap, there could be more bombs.” Horatio said with his left hand at his side and right hand resting on his hip. One of the paramedics got up and went to get the board, collar and blocks. He returned with them and placed them down next to Zoë. They lined up the board next to Zoë.  
“I’ll give you a hand.” Alexx said as she moved down to kneel at Zoë’s legs.   
“It’s okay, leave it to us.” One of the paramedics said under the pressure of the thought of another bomb going off.  
“I’m a doctor and I’m going to help.” Alexx snapped.  
“She doesn’t seem to have any shrapnel sticking out of her back, we should get her on to her back.” One paramedic said.  
“There could be some deeper, but the spinal situation overrides the shrapnel. On my count.” The other paramedic said. They gently rolled Zoë and boarded her, they then placed the collar and blocks beside her head after a bandage was wrapped around. They rechecked her eyes, they were still responsive. They loaded her into the ambulance.   
“Are you going to come with us?” One paramedic said to Alexx. Alexx looked at Horatio and then to Zoë.  
“I can’t, I need to get the body back to autopsy, I can be at the hospital in 25 minutes though.” She said as she raised her eyebrows, but she couldn’t leave the body.   
“I’ll go with her, Eric can take it from here.” Horatio said as he climbed into the ambulance.   
“I’ll meet you there, Horatio.” Alexx said looking at Horatio.  
“Bye baby, I’ll see you soon” Alexx said looking at Zoë. Eric quickly appeared at the doors.  
“H, keep me in the loop, Ryan is on his way here.” Eric said worried about Zoë. Horatio nodded at him. The paramedic closed the doors and went round to the driver seat and turned the engine on. Ryan turned up just as the ambulance was pulling away. Eric updated Frank and Ryan about the situation. Ryan’s eyes widened.   
“She’s going to be okay, isn’t she?” Ryan said looking towards Eric intently.  
“Yeah, I hope so.” Eric replied, not sure what else to say. 

Back in the ambulance Horatio took hold of Zoë’s hand while the paramedic unbuttoned her shirt slightly and attached the ECG leads to her chest. He placed the pulse oximeter on her finger and the machine gave the readings. She seemed stable, apart from her oxygen saturation – 92%. The paramedic turned to Horatio.  
“Does she have any known medical conditions?” The paramedic asked.  
“No.” Horatio said with concern glistening in his eyes. Zoë let out a low moan.  
“Zoë, can you hear me? You’re in an ambulance on your way to hospital, you’re going to be okay.” The paramedic said as she shone the light in her eyes again.   
“Zoë, can you open your eyes please?” The paramedic questioned. Her eyes fluttered.  
“Zoë, it’s okay, can you open your eyes please?” Horatio said calmly gripping her hand gently, just to let her know he was there. Zoë opened her eyes when the paramedic shined the light again. Zoë let out a louder moan in response to the bright light and slammed her eyes shut again.  
“Zoë, I know it’s bright I’m sorry, can you open your eyes again please?” The paramedic calmly said. She opened her eyes.  
“Well done, Zoë. Can you tell me if you hurt anywhere?” She moaned and shook her head.   
“Don’t move your head, Zoë.” The paramedic leaned over and touched both of her arms looking down at her.  
“Can you feel me touching you?” The paramedic questioned. Zoë nodded her head.  
“Yeah” She said quietly and dryly.   
“Try not to move your head darling, I know it’s difficult.” The paramedic said caringly.  
“Can you wiggle your toes for me please Zoë?” The paramedic questioned. Zoë moved her feet.  
“Thank you Zoë, well done.”   
The paramedic sat back, happy that Zoë was stable. Zoë brought her left hand up and tried to remove the oxygen mask.   
“No Zoë, leave it there. It’s okay.” Horatio said as he gently stroked her hand with his thumb as he held it.   
“Horatio?” She mumbled.  
“Yes, it’s me, I’m here. Don’t panic, you’re going to be okay.” Horatio answered as he leaned over so she could see him. She gently squeezed his hand and her grip slowly loosened as her eyes closed.   
“No no, Zoë stay awake.” Horatio worriedly said and looked over to the paramedic who was filling in paper work looking at her vitals often. The paramedic looked up and quickly moved over to Zoë.  
“Zoë, open your eyes for me please. Zoë? Can you hear me?” The paramedic said. Her oxygen saturation dropped again slightly.   
“How long until we’re at the hospital?” The paramedic called to the other paramedic driving.   
“A couple of minutes, we’re nearly there.” The driver called back. The paramedic took her blood pressure – it was on the lower end of the normal limits. But it was okay.   
They pulled into the hospital and unloaded Zoë, they rushed her in. Horatio stood by her side. The doctor met them and as they walked in the paramedics updated the doctor.   
“Stand back please sir.” The doctor ordered Horatio. As they were walking the doctor checked her eyes and called out to Zoë. She was not responding.   
“I want a CT scan on her immediately, I want her head wound cleaned and re-dressed and we’ll call the neurosurgeons, just in case, I’ll take a look at the wounds on her back after the CT.” The doctor barked orders at the nurses and other doctors around.   
“Get that CT now! Take her straight up there.” Horatio followed the trolly that she was laying on. The doctor fell back and turned to Horatio.   
“Hello sir, I’m doctor Nathan Taylor, you can call me Nathan, I’ll be head of care for Zoë.” Nathan held out his hand to Horatio.  
“Lieutenant Horatio Caine, take good care of her doctor.” They shook hands.  
“Are you family?” Nathan asked.  
“No, colleagues and friends. Keep me updated, I need to make a few phone calls.” Horatio said shocked.  
“She’s in good hands Lieutenant. She’ll be down from CT in about 20 minutes. I’ll come and find you when I find out more.” Nathan said seeing the frustrated look on Horatio’s face.   
“Thanks.” Horatio said as they both turned away from each other. Horatio rang Eric to see how they got on. Eric notified him that they bomb squad found 3 more bombs hidden in places, designed to catch the team. Horatio thanked him for the information. Alexx then called Horatio.  
“Horatio, I’m on my way over now, how is she doing?” Alexx said in a rush, driving over to the hospital.  
“She’s okay, she came around in the ambulance for a few minutes, she then lost consciousness again. They’ve taken her to CT now. I’ll wait at the entrance for you.” Horatio said with his right hand running through his hair.   
“Okay baby, she’s going to be okay. I’ll be there in 5 minutes.” Alexx said in a soothing voice detecting the worry and stress in his. They hung up and Horatio quickly went to wash her blood off his hand. He stood at the entrance for Alexx. She walked in and placed her hand on Horatio’s right arm with her right hand.   
“How is she?” Alexx said looking into his deep blue eyes searching for an answer.  
“I don’t know, they haven’t finished with her yet.” He said with a sigh. They went through to the waiting room. 40 minutes passed.  
“Where on Earth are they? They said it would only take 20 minutes!” Horatio said stressed.   
“Let them take their time Horatio, they’re doing their best for her. I’m sure they’ll be along soon.” Alexx said reassuring him. As sure as she was, Nathan walked in, he set his eyes on Alexx.  
“Alexx! How are you? What are you doing here?” Nathan said with a smile on his face.  
“I’m here with Zoë, how is she doing, Nathan?” Alexx said as she stood up along with Horatio.  
“Zoë’s okay, the CT doesn’t show any broken bones, we’ve taken the collar and blocks off and we’ve stitched her head wound up. We pulled quite a bit of shrapnel from her back, but they’re all only superficial and all stitched, she’ll heal up soon, most shouldn’t leave scars. She has suffered a moderate concussion and will certainly have a headache when she wakes up. She’s sedated at the moment. We’ll have to keep doing CT scans of her head, and possibly an MRI if anything show’s up. She’s had a bad injury so we just want to be on the safe side. But at the moment, it all looks good.” Nathan said with a smile.  
“Thank you baby, that’s good news!” Alexx said as she went in to give Nathan a hug. She turned to Horatio.  
“I assume you’ve met Nathan?” Alexx said with a smile.  
“Yeah, we met briefly earlier.” Nathan responded. Alexx gave them both a smile.  
“Horatio, Nathan is a friend of mine; Zoë really is in good hands. She’s going to be okay baby.” Alexx said as she reached out to place a gentle hand on Horatio’s arm.   
“Doctor, can we please see her?” Horatio asked still frustrated and shocked that this had happened to her in the first place.   
“Certainly, follow me, please call me Nathan.” He smiled as he turned and showed them through to Zoë’s room.   
“I’ll be outside if you need me.” Nathan said as he was handed a chart by a nurse. Horatio nodded at him while Alexx said “Thank you baby.”


	8. Chapter 8

Alexx entered Zoë’s room first, closely followed by Horatio. Alexx went straight over to Zoë and gently stroked her forearm. Horatio slowly walked over to her, feeling guilty that it was all somehow his fault. He looked at the floor as he stood by her bed. Alexx could see that he was thinking.  
“What’s on your mind, Horatio?” She asked knowing that he was blaming himself.  
“Nothing Alexx, just thinking about the case.” Horatio answered as he looked up and met her gaze and quickly looked elsewhere in the room.   
“Now I know that’s not true, what’s the matter?” Alexx asked tilting her head. She had known him long enough to know what he was thinking and when something was wrong. Horatio sighed.  
“Whoever set those bombs intended them for me, not her, she shouldn’t be in the hospital, she shouldn’t be injured, it’s my fault! I should have checked the cabinet myself.” He said with sorrow filling his eyes.  
“Now baby, you weren’t to know that the house was filled with bombs! You would have never known that there was a bomb in that cabinet! Don’t you dare blame yourself, it may not have even been intended for you, it could have been there to simply destroy evidence. If they wanted us all dead, they would have used a bigger bomb and more explosives.” Alexx said looking at him. Horatio realised that the bomb wasn’t big, the explosion was only big enough to cover half the room, Alexx must have been right. She was talking sense. That bomb could have been much bigger and could have done a lot more damage if the bomber wanted it to.   
“Thanks Alexx, I think you’re right.” Horatio said as he relaxed a little more. He pulled out his phone and rang Eric.  
“Eric, I need you to process that house fast, there’s evidence there, I know it. Those bombs were designed to damage the evidence and get rid of all of it so we can’t get a lead.”  
“I’m on it H, how is Zoë?”   
“She’s doing a lot better now, keep me in the loop.” They hung up and Horatio was certainly more at ease, yet still feeling guilty that Zoë had to end up in the hospital.   
“Zoë honey, Horatio and I are here for you, you’re going to be okay.” She said gently as she held Zoë’s hand and gently stroked her forearm. Horatio walked over to the window and looked out.  
“Alexx, what did you do with our vic?” He said curiously.  
“Don’t worry baby, I got it covered. I got another M.E to take over for me just for today. She’s going to need a friendly face when she wakes up.” She said with a smile appearing across her face. Nathan walked in and took a glance at Horatio standing at the window then back to Alexx and Zoë.  
“Just checking up. How are you both?” Nathan asked kindly.  
“We’re both okay thank you, Nathan. Can you tell me when the sedative will wear off?” Alexx asked curiously.  
“We expect it to wear off in about an hour or two. But we can’t be sure whether she’ll be conscious or not. She’ll be going up for another CT scan in about 50 minutes. Are you both staying for a while?”  
“Thank you Nathan, well, we’ll just have to find out when the sedative wears off. I will probably be here for the rest of the day, I’m not sure about Horatio though.” She said as she turned to Horatio for his answer.  
“I’m here for now, I may nip over to the lab though, but I know my CSI’s have it all under wraps so unless anything unexpected comes along, I’ll be here too.” Horatio answered still looking out the window.   
“Can I bring you both anything? Tea? Coffee?” Nathan asked.   
“Coffee would be fantastic thank you baby.” Alexx answered. Both then turning to Horatio for his answer.  
“Oh, none for me thank you.” Nathan nodded and disappeared out of the door. He returned 5 minutes later with a cup of coffee and handed it to Alexx.  
“Oh thank you Nathan, you’re a star!” Alexx said with a big smile.  
“Not a problem, if you need anything else, just give me a call. You’ve got my number, haven’t you Alexx?” Nathan said with a side smile.  
“I have, thank you Nathan.” Alexx said.  
“I’ll be back soon to check on her.” Nathan said and then disappeared through the door.   
Zoë took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly. Horatio looked over as the sound of Zoë surprised him.  
“She can’t be waking up already, surely?” Horatio questioned.  
“Well, it would seem that way.” Alexx answered. Zoë let out a quiet moan and took another deep breath.   
“Zoë, can you hear me baby? Squeeze my hand if you can.” Zoë very gently tightened her hand.  
“You’re in the hospital Zoë, don’t worry, you’re going to be fine.” Alexx said with a calm voice, not wanting to upset Zoë. Horatio slowly walked over as she took another deep breath.   
“Wait here a moment, Horatio. I’m just going to get Nathan.” Alexx said as she stood up and walked over to the door she opened it just as Nathan walked past.   
“What timing, ay! Zoë’s starting to wake up, I thought I’d let you know.” Alexx smiled.  
“Okay, thank you Alexx, I’ll be right in, I’ve got to see another patient first.” Nathan answered and quickly rushed off and walked into another room. Alexx closed the door and walked back over and stood at her left side. Horatio stood at her right. Nathan walked through the door and walked over to Zoë’s bed.


	9. Chapter 9

The heart monitor began to beep quicker, as Zoë’s heart rate increased.   
“Excuse me Alexx.” Nathan asked as he moved in closer to Zoë to shine the torch into her eyes.  
“Zoë, you’re in the hospital, you’re okay. You’ve been involved in an incident. I’m Doctor Nathan Taylor.” Zoë’s heart rate increased more, it was getting up to 130 bpm.  
“Zoë, try and remain calm, you’re going to be okay. Can you open your eyes for me?” Nathan asked with a calm quiet voice. She didn’t open her eyes and her heart rate increased more.   
“Zoë, I really need you to calm down.” Nathan said with a gentle voice. Zoë’s body tensed up. There was clearly something wrong. Nathan checked her pupils again, they reacted perfectly well.   
“Zoë, what’s wrong?” Alexx asked. Zoë let out a small cry.  
“Are you in pain?” Alexx asked. Zoë shook her head to say no. Alexx took hold of her hand.  
“It’s okay Zoë, I’ve got you.” Zoë squeezed her hand. Zoë’s heart rate seemed to drop a little.   
“Well, it must be just me then.” Nathan said and let out a small laugh.   
“Zoë, it’s Horatio, can you open your eyes?” Horatio gently asked. Zoë’s eyes fluttered and she opened them. Alexx gently stroked her forearm.   
“Well done, Zoë.” Horatio praised her. Zoë looked over to Horatio. He saw the panic in her eyes, she then looked over to Alexx and she saw it too.   
“Baby, you’re okay, you’re safe.” Alexx said gently. Zoë’s heart rate had slowed, but it was still considerately faster than it should be for someone who’s laying down – 90bpm. Zoë took a grip on to the safety bars on her bed and pulled herself up, letting out a moan. Nathan and Horatio instantly lept forward to stop her. Horatio took a hold of her wrist very gently and placed a hand on her shoulder, Nathan did the same. They gently laid her back.   
“Zoë, you need to stay laying down okay, you’re injured.” Horatio said looking into her soft brown eyes, trying to figure out what was wrong. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. Zoë started to get agitated and pulled herself up again. Horatio and Nathan quickly stopped her completely sit up. Horatio took a hold of her arm and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder again. Nathan taking hold of her shoulder. Zoë looked up to Horatio. Horatio clearly saw the panic and worry in her eyes, but he didn’t know why. They gently lowered her back to laying down again.  
“Zoë what’s wrong? Can you tell us?” Horatio asked. Alexx and Nathan looked at each other, both with worry and alarm bells going off in both of their heads.   
“I’ll be right back.” Nathan excused himself as he made for the door.  
“Wait, Nathan.” Alexx called as she walked over to him. They whispered to each other. Alexx then turned to Horatio as Nathan walked out of the room.   
“What’s going on?” Horatio asked worried and curious. Horatio quickly walked over to Alexx.  
“We think that she may have started bleeding in the brain, her agitation is a symptom of it, so Nathan’s just gone to rush for another CT immediately.” Horatio’s eyes widened.   
Zoë once again pulled herself up. They both turned to her and rushed over to her bed. Zoë’s face quickly drained of its colour as she began to sway. Horatio and Alexx took a gentle hold of her, they lowered her back down. She completely relaxed and her eyes closed, her heart rate slowed right down to 57bpm.   
“What’s just happened Alexx?” Horatio asked very confused.   
“She’s just passed out, she probably sat up too quickly. Either that or…” Alexx looked at Zoë.  
“Or what?” Horatio asked worried.   
“Or she’s bleeding a lot, or her brain could be swelling, I don’t know Horatio. I don’t know what’s going on in her head until she gets that CT.” Alexx becoming concerned herself.  
Nathan rushed back in and immediately asked what happened.  
“She’s passed out, it could be from her sitting up again, or… you know.” Alexx answered. Nathan walked over to the bed and introduced another sedative to her IV drip.  
“This won’t send her to sleep, but it’ll keep her very calm and stop the pain. We can’t have her wake up in CT and squirm around, she could hurt herself further. We’re taking her for a CT now.” Nathan said as two nurses walked in and helped Nathan push the bed out of the room and down to CT.   
Horatio walked back over to the window. Alexx sat in the chair, worried for Zoë. 20 minutes later, Nathan returned with Zoë in the bed. Horatio and Alexx walked over to Nathan.  
“From what I saw, she’s only got a very, very small bleed on the left side of her brain, it shouldn’t cause any damage, and shouldn’t be causing her this much agitation, then again, any head injury could present agitation as a symptom. I’ll know more once I’ve had a better look at the scans. She should be coming around a little more in a minute.” Nathan said honestly. He walked out quickly. Horatio and Alexx quickly walked over to Zoë’s bed side. Alexx ran a hand through Zoë’s hair.   
“Have any of her family members been called and notified?” Alexx asked concerned.  
“She has none, there are no alive family members in her records.” Horatio looked into Alexx’s eyes.  
“Poor thing” Alexx sighed.   
“No brothers or sisters?” Alexx questioned.  
“No, not anymore” Horatio sighed.  
“Anymore?” Alexx questioned.  
“Her brother is deceased; it’s even above my clearance level.” Horatio said. Alexx sighed. Zoë took a deep breath again, the sedative wearing off.   
“Hey Zoë, are you with us?” Alexx asked gripping her hand. Zoë moaned to give them a sign.  
“Can you open your eyes, Zoë?” Alexx asked. Zoë nodded and opened her eyes. She licked her lips to moisten them. The door opened and a nurse came in.   
“Don’t mind me, I’ve just got to write down your stats, by the way, I’m Zara.” She said with a smile.   
Zoë’s heart rate instantly rose.   
“Zoë, are you okay? Your heart rate was just okay.” Zara questioned confused. Zara walked over to the left hand side of the bed by Alexx and reached out to her wrist. Zoë immediately flinched.  
“Woah, Zoë it’s okay, I just want to take your pulse.” Zara said calmly yet confused. Zoë’s heart rate jumped and the monitor began to send out a warning beep. Zara went to reach for her wrist again. Zoë flinched and jumped to the opposite side of the bed where Horatio stood. He put his hand on her shoulder. Zara immediately took a step back.   
“I need to get Nathan.” She said and quickly left. Zoë’s heart rate was still going berserk. Alexx leant over and placed her hand on Zoë’s face.  
“Zoë, what’s wrong honey?” Alexx said concerned. Zoë had a grip on Horatio’s jacket through the safety bar. She was clearly distressed, but the both of them were completely confused. Zoë took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, trying to calm herself down. She released her grip on Horatio’s jacket and relaxed slightly. She hissed in pain as she laid her back against the bed. She was still taking deep breaths to try and calm down, her heart rate had slowed down, but was still very fast.   
“Zoë, tell us what’s wrong.” Alexx said with a very concerned face.   
“Could I have some water please?” Zoë asked dryly attempting to change the subject. Horatio passed her a plastic cup with cold water. Alexx and Horatio helped her to sit up they then looked at each other communicating their concern.   
“Thank you” She said quietly. Horatio helped her to lay back down.   
“Honey, are you going to talk to us and tell us what the problem is?” Alexx said stroking her forearm.


	10. Chapter 10

Nathan walked in through the door and walked up to the end of Zoë’s bed and picked up her chart.  
“Nurse Zara called me, what’s the problem? She said she came to get Zoë’s vitals then the heart monitor started to signal a warning but couldn’t get near to get a pulse?” Nathan questioned.  
“We don’t know Nathan.” Alexx said with a concerned expression, with Horatio demonstrating the same expression. Zoë’s heart rate was still slightly higher than it should be.   
“Hmmmm” Nathan mumbled to himself. Zoë’s heart rate was not decreasing anymore. Nathan walked over to her left side and her heart rate increased. Alexx turned to Nathan.  
“Could you possibly give us a few minutes please?” Alexx politely asked.  
“Sure thing, come and get me when you’re done.” Nathan said with a smile, he walked out of the room. Alexx turned to Zoë.  
“Do you want us to leave the room, Zoë? We don’t mind if you want some privacy.” Alexx said whilst she tilted her head.   
“No, no, please stay. Please don’t leave me. I just want to get out of here.” Zoë said in a panic.  
“Zoë, we can’t help if we don’t know what the problem is.” Horatio calmly said looking at her. He met her eyes.  
“I just want to get out of here, I can look after myself, I’ve got advanced medical training.” Zoë said in haste and then looked down.  
“Well then honey, you know that you can’t leave the hospital yet, you’ve sustained a bad head injury, you’ve still got to have CT scans, you have a very small bleed on the left side at the moment, that needs close observation.” Alexx said with her head tilted. Her heart rate was beginning to slow down. Zoë sighed and took another deep breath to try and remain calm.  
“Nathan is a very good doctor, he’s a good friend of mine and you can trust him, I’d trust him with my life. You’ve got nothing to worry about if that’s the problem.” Alexx said and gently stroked her shoulder.   
“You know him? And you trust him?” Zoë said cautiously.  
“Yes baby. You’ve got nothing to worry about.” Alexx said caringly. Alexx and Horatio had never seen Zoë act like this before, she hadn’t ever shown any weakness, even when a suspect put a gun to her head. They saw sheer panic in her eyes.   
“Can I call Nathan back in, we’ll be right here by your side, okay?” Alexx asked. Zoë nodded and looked down. Alexx walked out of the room to get Nathan. Horatio placed a hand on Zoë’s shoulder and gave her a caring smile. She smiled back at him. Alexx found Nathan.  
“Could you come back please, just go gentle and don’t make fast movement, just talk her through what you’re going to do, she seems a little untrusting of you right now.” Nathan nodded understandingly. They walked back into the room. Nathan approached cautiously and stood next to Alexx.   
“How are you feeling?” Nathan asked. Horatio carefully studied Zoë’s reactions to everything Nathan did and said.  
“I’m feeling fine, thank you, doctor.” Zoë said, obviously not too happy about something.  
“Call me Nathan.” He said with a smile.   
“When can I get out of here?” Zoë asked quickly.  
“Not quite yet, we’ve still got to run tests. Hopefully within a few days though, if everything goes well.” Zoë seemed to relax a little more.   
“I’m just going to shine this light in your eyes okay, just try and relax.” Nathan slowly pulled the safety bar down and leant over to shine the light. Zoë’s heart rate increased by 30 beats. Nathan quickly took a step back noticing her agitation.   
“I’m just going to take your pulse okay, I’ll be gentle.” He cautiously placed two fingers on her wrist. He smiled and then let go. Zoë seemed to relax a little more.   
“We’re going to take you up for another CT in about an hour and a half, okay? Is there anything I can get you?” He said with a big smile.   
“I’m okay thank you.” Zoë hissed with pain when she shifted in the bed.  
“Have you got any pain anywhere?” Nathan asked.  
“No, I’m only a little sore, thanks. But I’d like to sit up.”   
“Are you sure, I can get you some painkillers?” Nathan casually pointed out towards the door.   
“No thank you.”   
“Okay, I’m just going to help you sit forwards so I can put the bed up, okay?” Nathan reached forward. Zoë flinched slightly, she took a breath and then nodded. Horatio helped Nathan; they placed a hand under her arms. Horatio held her shoulder while Nathan slowly brought the bed up. They gently settled her against it.  
“Okay?” Horatio asked. Zoë nodded at him and gave him a small smile.  
“Your wounds are going to need to be re-dressed soon, I’ll get one of the nurses to come in in a while okay?” Nathan casually said as he looked at her chart. Zoë’s heart rate instantly picked up and was racing along.   
“Or you can tell me who you’d rather have do it?” Nathan said alarmed by her involuntary response.  
“Alexx?” Zoë questioned.  
“Yes honey?”  
“Could you do it please?”   
“Of course baby.” Alexx said with a smile as she held on to Zoë’s hand.   
“I’ll bring you in some gauze and tape.” Nathan said to Alexx. Alexx nodded at him. Nathan disappeared and then returned with some stuff for Alexx.  
“Whenever you feel comfortable. Zoë, are you sure you don’t want any painkillers? It’s going to hurt.” Nathan questioned.  
“No, I’ll be fine, thank you Nathan.”   
“Okay, if you change your mind, just get Alexx to find me.” He said with a smile. Nathan left, Zoë’s heart rate returned to normal after a while.  
“See baby, he’s not too bad, he just makes some bad jokes sometimes.” Alexx said smiling. Zoë nodded and smiled at her.   
“Right Zoë, are you ready for this?” Alexx asked and Zoë nodded.  
“Okay, can you turn on to your left side then please and face Horatio.”  
“Do you want me to leave for a little bit Zoë?” Horatio questioned cautiously.  
“No, please don’t.” Zoë made eye contact and Horatio smiled at her.  
“Okay, I’ll stay right here.” He held out his hand and gripped hers.  
“Squeeze my hand if you need to, I know it’s going to hurt you whether you admit it or not.” He smiled sweetly at her. She flashed him a smile back. Alex pushed the blanket down off her as she turned onto her side. She then pulled the gown over her side to uncover her back, she carefully placed it on her side.   
“I’ll try and make sure your gown doesn’t fall so you don’t flash Horatio.” Alexx laughed.  
“Alexx!” Zoë said jokingly and giggled herself. Zoë moved her right arm to make sure the gown covered her and wouldn’t’ move. Horatio at this point was going rather red.   
“What’s the matter Horatio? A little hot?” Alexx laughed.   
“Hmm, just a little!” Horatio joked attempting to hide his embarrassment. Zoë smiled up at Horatio.   
“Okay baby, this is going to hurt a little, I’ll try and be as gentle as I can be.” Alexx warned as she looked down at Zoë’s swollen, bloody and bruised back. ‘I don’t think I see one bit of undamaged flesh, she must be in agony!’ Alexx thought to herself.  
“Just do it Alexx. I’ll be fine.” Alexx pulled the gauze and tape off her wounds on her back. Zoë hissed a little.  
“Okay baby?” Trying to make sure she was okay.   
“Yeah, fine.” Alexx carefully washed and dressed her wounds. It wasn’t too bad, she squeezed on Horatio’s hand only slightly. Alexx finished and pulled the gown back over her back and blanket back up over her. She disposed of the dirty bandages.  
“Zoë, can you lean forwards for me please, I just need to re-dress your head wound, then I’ll be done.”  
“Sure.” Zoë replied as she lifted herself forwards, Horatio placed his hand under her arm to steady her.  
“This one may sting a little okay.”   
“Yeah, just go ahead Alexx, it’s nothing I can’t handle”   
“Okay baby.” Alexx took the old wound she took the Alice band type thing holding the bandages off from her head and took the bandage and gauze off the wound. Alexx washed it which caused Zoë to take a sharp intake of air.   
“You okay?”   
“Yeah, just carry on Alexx.” She re-dressed the wound. Zoë’s head began to get lower.  
“Nearly there Zoë, hold still.” Alexx said as Zoë’s head began to drop a little more.  
“Zoë?” Horatio said as he felt Zoë’s muscles relax.  
“Okay, let’s lay her back.” Alexx said as she quickly lowered the bed. Horatio’s left hand under Zoë’s left arm gripped tighter as Horatio brought his right hand around to her neck to support it as he gently laid her back. Horatio laid her down on the bed as Alexx ran out and got Nathan. Nathan rushed in and asked what happened. Alexx explained. Nathan quickly looked into her eyes with the torch and took her pulse.  
“I think she’s just passed out, perhaps from the pain.”  
“She didn’t seem to be in too much pain though Nathan.” Alexx questioned.   
“Okay, well, I’ll slip a little painkiller into her IV anyway, just to be sure, it won’t knock her out.” Zoë quickly came around and the pain did feel a little better. Nathan made a quick exit after making sure she was okay.   
“Try and get some rest Zoë, we’re not going anywhere.”   
“I don’t need any more rest Alexx, I’ve had enough today.”  
“Zoë, doctors’ orders, don’t worry, I’ll be right here.” Alexx said as she sat down on the chair beside her. Zoë slowly closed her eyes and she quickly fell asleep. Horatio quietly walked over to the window when Eric called. He quickly answered his phone and slipped out hoping not to wake Zoë.   
“Eric, how’s it going?”   
“It’s going well, we’ve got our suspect, he’s a little short for words I’ll say.”   
“Okay, are you back at the lab yet?”   
“No, we’re just about to pop by the hospital on our way back, if that’s okay?”  
“Sure.”   
“See you in a few then H.” They hung up. Horatio walked back in quietly. He sat on the chair on the right of Zoë’s bed.  
“That’s the first time I’ve seen you sit today!” Alexx sniggered in a whisper. Horatio smiled.  
Outside the nurses were moving a bed down the corridor and accidently clipped Zoë’s door. Zoë instantly woke and shot up into a sitting position. Her heart rate jumped and increased by 40 beats at the shock, she quickly calmed back down.  
“Woah, slow down there Zoë!” Horatio smiled at her. Alexx and Horatio stood as they went to help her lay back down.   
“I’d rather sit up, please.” She said with a grin.  
“Eric and Ryan are just popping by Zoë, hope you don’t mind too much. They’ve also got your hand bag.” Horatio said as he held Zoë steady. Alexx pulled the head of the bed up so Zoë could sit up. Horatio gently eased her back.   
“That shouldn’t be a problem.” Zoë said smiling. Alexx gave them both a stern look.  
“You should be resting, shouldn’t you...” She raised an eye brow.   
“There’s plenty of time to rest.” Zoë said with a grin.   
Eric and Ryan pulled up in the hummer and found Zoë’s room. They knocked on the door.  
“Come in.” Zoë called. From the door Eric and Ryan appeared. They asked how she was and she replied. They stood by the bed. Nathan walked in and looked around the room.  
“So this is where you want to be at, isn’t it!” He said with a smile.  
“Hi there, I’m Zoë’s doctor, you can call me Nathan.” He held out his hand to Eric.  
“Eric Delko.” he said as he shook Nathan’s hand and nodded. Nathan then held his hand out to Ryan.  
“Ryan Wolfe.” Ryan said as he shook Nathan’s hand. Ryan quickly crossed his arms and expanded his chest. Obviously feeling threatened by Nathan. Ryan studied Nathan.  
‘Oh, I bet you’re enjoying treating Zoë, aren’t you Mr. Handsome with your dark brown eyes and fancy styled black hair. Oh look at me, I go to the gym everyday and I like to flex my muscles and show off. Oh look at me! I’m taller than all of you! I bet that tan isn’t even real. It’s got to be fake. Ha, yeah… fake. Hmphh.’ Ryan thought. They all looked at Ryan whilst Nathan had his head buried in Zoë’s chart. They all knew Ryan felt jealous, they could see it in his body language. They all grinned at each other finding it quite funny. Zoë didn’t really catch on though, she was too busy worrying about what Nathan was going to do next. Eric nudged Ryan to stop him from staring at Nathan. Alexx nudged Zoë.  
“Hey, you alright?” She questioned.  
“Yeah, fine.”   
“Right Zoë, we’re going to take you down for a CT soon, would you like to be sedated?”   
“Definitely not, thanks.” Nathan quickly left.  
Zoë looked to Alexx. Alexx knew what she was going to ask and she nodded.   
Nathan appeared again.  
“Are you ready to go?” Zoë nodded and looked towards Alexx.  
“Nathan, I’ll be joining if that isn’t too much of a problem?”  
“Not at all.” Nathan smiled. A porter walked in and Zoë just stared at him. Horatio noticed.  
“You’re going to be fine, I’ll still be here when you get back, okay?” Horatio smiled.  
Zoë nodded and smiled at him. Whilst Zoë was down for another scan Eric and Ryan took Horatio up to date with the case.   
“Looks like you two have it all under wraps! I better watch out for my job!” Horatio smiled just as Zoë was wheeled back in. Ryan and Eric said good bye and left. Zoë quickly fell asleep again.   
“Alexx, you should probably get going home, your husband and kids are probably missing you.” Horatio whispered.   
“Oh don’t worry about that honey, I’ll give them a ring, they won’t mind. I don’t think it’s a good idea to be leaving her if she’s that petrified of the doctors and nurses!”   
“I’ll stay with her for the night, I don’t mind, I didn’t have anything planned anyway.”  
“Only if you’re sure, Horatio?”   
“Yeah, it looks like she’s going to be asleep for most of it anyway, she looks exhausted.” Horatio smiled at her.  
“Okay, thank you baby. Tell her bye from me, I’ll be here tomorrow.” Alexx got up and picked up her jacket. She said bye to Horatio and went to find Nathan. Horatio sat back in the rather large chair and began to relax himself. Alexx found Nathan.  
“Hi baby, I’m off for the night, I’ll be back tomorrow though. Take good care of them. Horatio is going to stay for the night, if Zoë wakes up and finds that there’s no one there I’m pretty sure she’ll get up and walk out. Just be gentle with her. Both of them can be stubborn, so watch your back.” She said with a cheeky smile.   
“She’ll be in good care, I’ll be off home soon, but I’ll take her for one last CT before I go so she doesn’t have to have another until morning. Don’t worry about them.” He said with a reassuring smile. Alexx hugged him goodbye and left. Eric and Ryan had brought Horatio a case file so he had his head buried in that for the next hour until Nathan quietly walked back in. Horatio looked up at him.  
“I just need to take her for another CT, then I’ll leave her alone for the night. Will you do the honours of waking her up please? I’m not sure how she’d react with me standing over her while she sleeps. She doesn’t seem to be too comfortable with me around yet.” Nathan smiled at Horatio.  
“Sure.” Horatio put the file down and gently woke Zoë up. She slowly woke up and looked at Horatio in a daze.   
“Hello Zoë, I’m sorry to wake you, but they’ve got to take you for another CT, it’s the last one you’ll have until tomorrow morning.” Zoë’s eyes widened.   
“There’s no need to worry.” Horatio said calmly.  
“If you want, Horatio can come with us?” Nathan said softly. Zoë instantly nodded and looked up to Horatio.  
“Of course.” A smile grew across his face. Horatio picked up his gun from the table behind the chair and put it in his holster.   
“I don’t think there’s going to be any need for that, Lieutenant.” Nathan said with a grin.   
“Call me Horatio, and I’m not just going to leave it on the side in a room, am I?”  
“No, of course not. Sorry, I didn’t think.” Nathan answered and his smile disappeared. ‘I guess I shouldn’t try and be a smart-ass around him’ he chuckled to himself.   
“Are you ready then?” Nathan said as Horatio stood up. He placed a case file down on the bed as Horatio helped push it. Zoë picked it up and started reading.   
“Zoë, you’re unwell, you shouldn’t be reading that. You’re not supposed to be working any cases.” He grinned.  
“I know, I’m just having a look, I may be able to enlighten you though, you know… a fresh pair of eyes.” Zoë cheekily said.  
“Fresh? More like totally exhausted eyes.” Horatio smiled. They arrived at CT. Horatio waited outside while they took the scan. Zoë was soon done and they were on their way back up to Zoë’s room. They got to the room and Zoë soon fell asleep with Horatio sat in the chair next to her. Not long after, Horatio himself fell asleep in the chair. He had sat on the case file just in case anyone wanted to nose at it while he slept.


	11. Chapter 11

It was early in the morning, about 4.30am and Zoë had begun to dream. She fidgeted slightly in the bed.  
“NO!” She said rather loudly and clearly which startled Horatio, he quickly woke up and sat forward in his chair wondering what on Earth was going on. They had both slept quite peacefully throughout the night.   
“No, Mike! No! Please don’t do this! Mike! Mike!! Come back to me! Stay with me! You’re going to be okay! No!! You can’t do this to me!” Zoë said half mumbling, half talking in her sleep with her heart rate slightly elevated. She was obviously disturbed, but by what Horatio couldn’t understand. Horatio gently took hold of her hand and carefully rubbed the back of her hand the pad of his thumb. It seemed to calm her down somewhat. Her heart rate dropped back down between the 50’s and 60’s. Horatio’s eye lids grew heavier and he was quickly asleep again leaning back in the chair. He didn’t look too comfortable. At 6.30am Zoë began to stir and fidget again. She let out a loud moan which again woke Horatio up. Zoë’s right fist was clenched with the bed sheet scrunched up inside her fist.   
“No! Get away from her! No! Don’t do this, please! Please! Get away from me! Get away! No, DAD NO! DON’T!” Zoë screamed she woke up and instantly sat up in the bed, breathless. Horatio quite disturbed himself about what he had just witnessed. Horatio stood up and took Zoë’s hand. He leant down to meet her gaze.  
“Hey, it’s okay. You’re in the hospital Zoë.” He said with raised eyebrows. He looked into her captivating brown eyes and he saw she was hurt and frightened, she looked back into his pools of blue and saw the calmness; she also saw the worry in his eyes.  
“It was just a dream, you’re okay.” Horatio repeated. Zoë took a few deep breaths and calmed herself down. Horatio lightly guided her back to laying down and softly said:  
“I’ll be right here, just try and get some rest.” Horatio sat up in the chair and sorted himself out. He quickly went to the en-suite and Zoë was fast asleep again. Horatio sat back in the chair and ran both of his hands through his hair. He then rested his head in one of his hands as he thought about what had just happened. He looked at her and worried about her. He’d seen that sort of dream before but he didn’t want to believe it. There was a knock at the door and Alexx entered the room with two cups of coffee. She handed him a cup and he gave her a smile.  
“Thank you, you’re a life-saver!” Horatio said with a smile as he sipped the coffee.   
“No problem, how is she?” Alexx’s face soon switched to worry.  
“She’s been okay; she slept most of the night, as did I. She had a few bad dreams this morning and I’ve only just got her back to sleep.” Horatio said with a sigh.  
“We all have bad dreams every now and then.” Alexx said trying to reassure Horatio.  
“Hmm yeah.” Horatio said but he really thought. ‘Not like that! That was more than a bad dream… but I’m not sure Zoë would want to share that with anyone.’ He thought.   
“Alexx, I need to go home and have a shower and change, is it okay if I leave you with her for a while? I’ll have you covered for the day with pay.” Horatio asked with a tired smile.  
“Sure honey, go home and get yourself sorted. Thank you Horatio.” She said with a soft smile.   
“I’ll be back in about an hour, just to check up on her, then I’ll have to quickly pop over to the lab, just to make sure Eric and Ryan haven’t gone mad. Give me a ring if anything changes, I can be here within 3 minutes if needed.” He said standing to the side and gave her a side smile with his head tilted.   
“Sure thing baby, take it easy. I’ll see you soon.” Alexx said with a grin as she looked back over to Zoë’s sleeping form. Horatio made for the door as Nathan walked in.  
“Horatio” Nathan said and gave him a quick nod.  
“Nathan” Horatio said and gave Nathan a nod too. Horatio walked out of the room and phoned Eric to come and pick him up so Horatio could collect his hummer.  
Nathan greeted Alexx and she did the same. Zoë began to stir and slowly woke up with her eyes on Nathan.  
“How are you feeling today?” Nathan said with a fresh smile.  
“Good.” Zoë said sleepily as she tried to sit up. Alexx gave her a hand.  
“Is there anything I can get you? Painkillers? Coffee? Food?” Nathan asked softly.  
“Well, for starters, I’d like to have a shower and then I want my clothes back, this gown is hideous.” Zoë said still a little dazed from sleeping.  
“Oh gosh, I didn’t mean to sound rude.” Zoë quickly said realising the tone in which she spoke in.  
“I’ll cut you a deal, you have a couple more CT scans, if they’re okay you can then have a shower?” Nathan said with a smile on his face.   
“What about the gown? I’m not wearing it any longer. It’s shocking! You should really get some stylists in or something.” Zoë said cheekily, becoming a little more relaxed around Nathan.  
“Ha! Well, I do have to agree with you there, but it’s not our choice. Tell you what, would you prefer to wear some of my scrubs?”   
“Deal.” Zoë said with a big grin. Nathan nodded and excused himself. He turned and walked over to the door.  
“Nathan.” Zoë called and he turned around looking at her with a caring expression.  
“Thank you.” Zoë said with a smile.  
“No problem Zoë.” He said with a big smile and reached for the door.   
“Try and rest honey, I’m not going anywhere.” Alexx said with a hand resting on Zoë’s arm.   
Zoë smiled and her eyes slowly closed. An hour later Nathan returned.  
“She’s got to go up for another CT now, I assume you’ll be coming along?” Nathan said with a slight curve up on the edges of his lips. Alexx nodded at him and smiled herself.  
“Could you please wake her, still not sure how she’d react if I woke her up.” Nathan said with a cheeky grin.  
“Of course baby.” Alexx softly woke Zoë up and informed her of what was going on. They took her down to CT and quickly brought her back up.   
Horatio pulled back up at the hospital in his hummer. He saw Nathan on his way up to see Zoë. They both walked up to her room where she was sat up in her bed.   
“I’ve got good news for you Zoë, firstly, the bleed seems to have cleared itself up and provided you don’t encounter anymore problems, you’ll only have one more CT today later on, and if that’s clear, you’ll probably be allowed home tomorrow. I’ll also let you have that shower now, provided you keep the door unlocked and if you need any help, you call for us. Okay?” A massive grin appeared across Zoë’s face.   
“I’ll just go and get you some scrubs.” Zoë grinned even more. Nathan quickly left.  
“What are the scrubs for?” Horatio questioned confused.  
“Have you not noticed how hideous this gown is?” Zoë said with a cheeky grin.   
“Ahh, I see!” Horatio said giving her a grin back. Nathan returned with scrubs and new bandages for Zoë’s wounds.   
“Could you please re-dress her wounds please?” Nathan questioned as he handed the things to Alexx. She nodded at him  
“Thank you, Nathan.” Zoë quietly said. Nathan gave her a quick wink in appreciation and left. Alexx walked around to the right side of the bed where Horatio stood and pulled the safety bar down.   
“Now, you need to go very slowly, if you go too fast, you’ll only black out and probably end up in here for another day.” Alexx said with a raised eyebrow.   
“I know.” Zoë said with a small smile. Zoë slowly swung her body round and let her legs dangle off the bed for a few seconds. She slowly shuffled off whilst Alexx and Horatio helped her by placing a hand under her arms and the other hand on her shoulder. They took a lot of her weight. Zoë took a deep breath.  
“Are you okay?” Alexx questioned and Zoë nodded. They carefully and gradually let go, just making sure that Zoë was okay standing on her own. She swayed a little but they quickly steadied her.   
“I’m okay, just give me a minute.” Zoë said with a smile. Horatio took hold of her left wrist with his left hand and placed his right hand under her left arm. Alexx gently took out her IV and threw the end away and left the rest of it for Nathan to dispose of. Alexx let go and picked up a towel from the cupboard and the scrubs from the bed.   
“Erm, Alexx?”  
“Yes honey?”  
“Could you please grab my bra?”  
“Sure baby.” Alexx picked up her bra and stuck it under the scrubs. Horatio walked with Zoë to the en-suite.   
“I’m not helping you; I’m here just in case.” Horatio said he noticed Zoë trying to get free. She relaxed after he said that and let him hold on to her. Alexx followed them in to the bathroom and placed the things in the counter. Once Zoë had a hold of the counter Horatio slowly let go of her and walked out. Alexx leaned in and whispered “there’s some lovely hospital underwear in there too.” Alexx gave her a grin. Zoë looked up with a grin on her face and sniggered.  
“Thanks Alexx.” She laughed.  
“Call me if you have any problems okay? I’ll be right outside, and don’t lock the door.” She said with a raised eyebrow.  
“Thank you Alexx.” Zoë said with a smile. Alexx walked out and closed the door behind her. She glanced at Horatio who had sat back down and smiled. Alexx stood by the door while Horatio got a phone call. It was just Eric calling to see how Zoë was getting on. Zoë finished showering. She towled herself dry and pulled on the hospital underwear and then the bottom half of the scrubs.   
“Zoë, if you could just put your bra on and leave the top off so I can dress the wounds again, I promise I won’t look.” Alexx called through the door.  
“Okay, give me a minute.” Zoë said as Horatio hung up.   
“Okay Alexx.” Zoë called through the door. Alexx opened the door and closed it behind her.


	12. Chapter 12

Alexx looked at her back, she wouldn’t see an inch of normal coloured flesh, her back was bruised and battered, not to mention the swelling. Alexx re-dressed Zoë’s wounds, Zoë pulled the scrubs shirt over her head and down. They came out of the bathroom and Alexx helped Zoë to bed. Zoë sat on the bed while Alexx re-dressed her head wound.   
“That’s much better, I feel a lot more comfortable now! I don’t feel like I’m going to accidently flash anyone now!” Zoë said with a cheeky smile. Zoë sat back in the bed.  
“Glad you feel more comfortable now, Zoë. I have to pop over to the lab now, just to make sure that Eric and Ryan aren’t going mad, I’ll be back later okay?”   
“Sure Horatio, thank you. I’ll see you later.” She smiled sweetly at him. Alexx and Horatio said bye to each other and Horatio left. Alexx sat down next to Zoë and smiled at her. Zoë’s eyelids grew heavier and she soon fell asleep. Alexx sat back as Nathan walked in quietly and wrote down her vitals.  
“Can I get you anything Alexx?   
“No thank you Nathan.” They smiled at each other.   
“She’s very grateful for the scrubs, thank you again.” Alexx smiled. Nathan nodded and walked out to get Alexx a coffee. Alexx turned to Zoë.  
“Hey baby girl, I think someone likes you.” Alexx said with a grin to Zoë’s sleeping form.   
“I’ve not seen him look at anyone like that in a very long time.” She said with a smile. Alexx sat back and rested. Alexx’s eyes closed and she fell asleep too.   
Horatio walked in and found them both sleeping. He placed a coffee on the table for Alexx. Alexx quietly woke up and thanked Horatio.   
“What time is it?” Alexx asked dazed  
“It’s 6.30pm.” Horatio answered.  
“What? It was just 2pm!” She said sitting up.   
“Well, it looks like you both got a good sleep!” Horatio smiled as he sat down.   
“Yeah.” Alexx answered as she rubbed her face with both of her hands and then took a sip of her coffee.   
“Alexx, I got it, go home. You look like you could use a full night’s sleep.”   
“Well, thank you for that compliment, Horatio.” She said with a raised eyebrow and a smile. Letting Horatio know that he got off lightly on that one. Alexx stood up and gathered her things.  
“Call me if you need anything Horatio. Bye.” She said as she walked out still a little sleepy. She said bye to Nathan.   
30 minutes later Zoë woke up and smiled at Horatio who was reading a case file.   
“Hey.” She said as Horatio lifted his head out of the file.   
“Hey.” Horatio replied with a greeting smile.   
“How’s it going with the case?” Zoë questioned.  
“Well, they’ve almost got the killer and bomber.” Horatio said as Zoë looked into his eyes. She could see that there was something wrong by looking at him.  
“What’s wrong?” She asked tilting her head.  
“Nothing’s wrong.” He politely responded.  
“Horatio, I know you well enough to know when there’s something getting to you.” She said honestly with a raised eyebrow.   
“The killer/bomber isn’t showing any remorse at all, it’s just getting to me a little. He hurt you, and that is unacceptable.” Horatio honestly replied.  
“He’ll get what he deserves, don’t worry Horatio. I’m sure Eric, Ryan and Frank have it all under wraps.” Zoë said with a small smile trying to reassure Horatio.  
“Yeah” Horatio smiled at her. Nathan walked in and looked at them both.  
“You need another CT, we’re going to take you up now. Okay?” Zoë nodded and looked over to Horatio.   
“Of course.” Horatio said knowing what she was going to say. They went down to CT and came back up. After Nathan had a look at the scans he came back in.  
“Good news, everything’s clear. If you’re okay tonight, you’ll be going home tomorrow morning, I’ll talk you through everything tomorrow though. But right now you need to get some rest.” He said happily.  
“Thank you Nathan.” Zoë said while Horatio nodded at him. Nathan quickly made an exit and carried on with his work. Zoë looked over to Horatio and saw that he was in deep thought and something was still disturbing him.  
“Horatio?” Zoë curiously asked and Horatio looked at her with big blue eyes. She could see that something was bothering him.  
“What’s wrong? What are you thinking about?” She said lowering her head to get a better look into his eyes.  
“I’m okay.” He said with a small forced smile.   
“No you’re not. I know you’re not. What’s wrong? Is it something to do with the case?”   
“No, nothing to do with the case.” He replied quickly.  
“Well then, what is it?” She looked deeper into his eyes, searching for an answer.   
“It’s just something that happened this morning. That’s all.”  
“Well, are you going to share? What happened?” She said concerned. Horatio ran a hand through his hair, Zoë clearly knew something was up.   
“Zoë…” Horatio started but soon trailed off.  
“What?” Growing more and more concerned.   
“Who’s Mike?” Horatio questioned.


	13. Chapter 13

Horatio looked down to the floor, knowing that he had probably crossed the line. Zoë took a deep breath.  
“How do you… know his name?” Zoë questioned with her voice breaking slightly.  
“You called out in your sleep, you seemed to be having a bad dream this morning. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. It just didn’t sound like a very pleasant dream and it worried me a little.” Horatio trying not to make eye contact with Zoë, he stared at the end of her bed fiddling with his hands.   
“Mike… Mike was my…my husband.” Zoë seemed to stutter her words. She took a deep breath.  
“Was your husband?” Horatio looked up at her, glad that she had opened up to him, showing that she trusted him enough to share some of her deep feelings with him.  
“He was murdered.”   
“I’m so sorry to hear that.” Horatio said with sorrow filling his eyes.  
“The killer was never caught and seemed to go underground.”   
“I’m sorry Zoë, I shouldn’t have asked.” Horatio looked into her eyes and saw her pain, he understood what she was feeling. He missed Marisol just as much. He took hold of her hand and gently squeezed it.  
“You would have found out sooner or later anyway. Don’t worry Horatio. Just don’t mention it to the rest of the team yet.”  
“Of course not, I completely understand.”   
“Thank you.” She said with a smile. Horatio didn’t want to push her anymore and decided to let it go, along with the question about her screaming about her Dad. He decided that if she wanted to, she’d share when and if she was ready. But he still feared the worst.   
“You should have something to eat, you’ve not eaten in a couple of days, I got you a few things.” Horatio pulled out some food.  
“Thank you.” She smiled sweetly at him.  
“It’s got to be better than hospital food.” Horatio chuckled.  
“Certainly!” She quickly replied with a big smile. Nathan came in and said that he’d see them tomorrow, he was about to go home. He gave Horatio his card and said to call if they needed anything. Nathan promptly left and Zoë finished her snack.   
“I just need to nip to the loo now, could you please give me a hand getting off the bed, I seem to be a little stiff from laying for a couple of days.” She smiled. Zoë swung her legs round over the side of the bed. Horatio gently placed his left hand on her wrist and held it and his right hand under her arm to try and take her weight when she got off the bed. She slid down and stood by the bed. Zoë swayed slightly.  
“Are you okay?” Horatio softly asked.   
“Yeah, just give me a minute.” Zoë said as she took a deep breath. Zoë’s legs gave way and in one move Horatio had managed to get his right hand down around the bottom of her back and gripped on to her waist, while his left hand quickly swept under her left arm as he pulled her in to rest against him.  
“Woah, you want to lie back down?” Horatio said as he made his quick swift move and held all of Zoë’s weight.  
“No no, I’m fine. Just give me a moment, I’ll be fine.” Zoë’s strength finally returned and she took more of her weight.   
“Okay?” Horatio said quietly.  
“Yeah, I’m good.” She said as she turned her head to look round to Horatio.   
“Thank you.” She said as she smiled sweetly at him.  
“No problem, now let’s get you to that bathroom.” Horatio said as he gently released Zoë from his tight grip. He still had his hand on her right hip and under her left arm, but it was only there just in case she fell again. Horatio helped her into the bathroom.  
“I’ll be just outside, don’t lock the door and come out when you’re ready.”   
“Thank you Horatio.” she said with a smile as Horatio walked out of the bathroom and pulled the door to close it. Zoë went to the loo and then washed her hands. She dried them then opened the door. Horatio stood up straight from leaning against the wall. Horatio gently took her wrist and placed his right hand under her arm, just in case. He walked her back to bed and helped her to get in.  
“You should probably rest, you’ve got a long day tomorrow.” He said with a sweet smile. Zoë looked at him.  
“I’m not going anywhere, I promise.” Horatio said with honesty in his eyes. Zoë nodded.  
“Thank you, Horatio.”   
“There’s no need to thank me.”  
“There is, I know I’m not the easiest of people. Thank you so much.” She flashed him a big smile. He smiled back.  
“You’ve been through a lot, I don’t expect you to be easy.” He said still smiling.  
“Now go to sleep ma’am.” He said with cheek. Zoë’s smile grew.  
“Okay, okay I’m sleeping.” Zoë said with a beaming smile. Horatio picked up the case file he had with him and quickly got absorbed by that. Zoë fell asleep and Horatio quickly fell asleep with the case file in his grip.


	14. Chapter 14

It was roughly 6 in the morning when Zoë began to stir again; she let out a loud moan and woke Horatio. She didn’t really form any words this morning; she just moaned and squirmed in her bed. Horatio took a hold of her hand and softly stroked her hand with his thumb which seemed to sooth her a little. Once she had calmed down Horatio sat back and placed the case file which was resting on his lap on the bedside table. Horatio rubbed his face with his hands and got up to stretch. He went to the loo quickly and washed his face. He sat back down by Zoë when Nathan walked in. The sound of the door opening woke Zoë up. She took a quick glance around the room.   
“Just checking your vitals, I’ll be back soon to discharge you.” Nathan said with a smile.   
“Can I get you two anything? Tea? Coffee?” He asked while he looked at her chart and wrote a few things down.   
“Tea would be great, thank you.” Zoë said with a smile.  
“A coffee would be good, thanks Nathan.” Horatio looked up at him.   
“Got it, I’ll be back in 5 with that.” Nathan quickly left. Zoë took a breath and sat up more.   
“How are you feeling today then?” Horatio asked as he tilted his head.  
“Good, can’t wait to get home though!” Zoë said with a glistening smile. Horatio sat back and crossed his legs at the ankles.   
“I thought as much.” He said with a smile. Nathan came back in with two steaming cups.   
“Zoë, I’ll be discharging you soon, probably around 8, okay? I’ll need to come in to speak with you nearer the time though. For the time being, I suggest you get as much rest as you can.” Nathan said as he placed her cup on the table beside her.   
“Sure thing.” Zoë nodded. Nathan walked back out after being thanked.   
Zoë drank her tea and then had to go to the loo again. Horatio helped her to walk over to the loo and back. She got back into bed and rested. She closed her eyes and before she knew it Nathan walked back in which woke her back up.   
“Right you, you’re allowed to go home now! On a few conditions: Alexx is going to go over to yours to check up on you regularly, she’s also going to change your bandages. If you have any problems, you call her or you call me and you immediately come back if you experience anything like…” Zoë cut him off.  
“I know what to look for, I’ve got medical training, I’ll be okay, thank you Nathan.” She quickly said.  
“Okay, okay. Just promise me you’ll come back if you experience anything odd, though?”  
“Sure sure, I promise.” She smiled and began to get off the bed.  
“Hold on, we need to get you a wheelchair.”  
“I don’t need a wheelchair, I can walk perfectly well.”  
“Hospital procedure.” Nathan replied with one eyebrow raised and left to get a wheelchair. Horatio phoned Eric.  
“Eric, Zoë’s just been discharged; can you meet us at her place please?”   
“Sure thing H, I’ll be there in a few.” He hung up. Nathan appeared with the wheelchair and Horatio helped her to get off the bed and sit in it. He picked up all of her belongings, like her phone, gun holster, badge and ID, anything that wasn’t thrown away after they cut her clothes off her and replaced them with the gown. He put them in her hand bag. Nathan wheeled Zoë out with Horatio walking by her side.   
“Where’s my gun Horatio?” She questioned noticing that Horatio only had his.  
“Eric and Ryan took it back to the lab, we couldn’t leave it in the hospital and I had nowhere to keep it on me.”   
“Ah, I see, okay.” She replied understanding. They got outside and Nathan put the brakes on the wheelchair. Zoë got up and Horatio gently took a hold of her arm.   
“Thank you for all you’ve done, Nathan, we really appreciate it!” Horatio said holding out his free hand to shake Nathan’s hand. Nathan nodded.  
“Not a problem.”   
“Thank you Nathan, I know I’m not the easiest patient.”  
“My pleasure… oh and before you go, I forgot… you have to come back to see me in a weeks’ time, okay. I’ve made you an appointment, here’s the card. You promise to come and see me?”  
“I’ll make sure of it, Nathan.” Horatio answered before Zoë could argue.   
Zoë shook his hand in appreciation. Horatio took a hold of Zoë with both his hands as Nathan turned away. Horatio and Zoë were walking away to Horatio’s hummer which was parked in the car park close to the entrance. Nathan glanced back and found himself staring at her ass. ‘Damn she wears those scrubs well.’ Nathan thought to himself then a very wide grin appeared across his face.   
“Horatio, I’m not an old woman.” Zoë said with cheek.  
“I know you’re not, but if you tripped or fell I don’t want you to end up back in there for another 3 or 4 days, do I?” He said with slight seriousness and jokiness.   
“I suppose not.” She said with a smile. Horatio beeped the hummer unlocked and helped Zoë round to the passenger seat. Horatio briefly let go of her to open the door and then helped her get up into the hummer and closed the door once she was comfortably in. He quickly walked around to the driver seat and jumped in.  
“Ready?” Horatio said as he turned the engine on.  
“Yeah.” Zoë said with a big grin. Horatio clicked his seatbelt into place. Zoë had while Horatio walked round. Horatio reversed out of the parking space and they drove over to Zoë’s.


	15. Chapter 15

Horatio pulled up and on to Zoë’s drive next to her black BMW X6. Eric got out of his Hummer and walked up Zoë’s drive as Horatio got out and walked around to the passenger side. Eric opened the door. Zoë placed her hand on Horatio’s shoulder as she got out and he placed a hand around her back and gripped her waist just until she got her legs firmly planted on the floor. Zoë let go of Horatio’s shoulder as he put his other hand under her arm. They took a step back as Eric closed the door and Horatio beeped the hummer locked as he let go of her waist and swapped hands to put his left hand under her arm, just for a little support.   
“Eric, there’s a spare key in that plant pot there.” Zoë pointed to the plant pot.   
“Before you put the key in, you need to disable the alarm otherwise it’ll go off and the key won’t turn. The code is 9015.” Eric picked the key up and taped the code in. He put the key in an opened the door. He walked in followed by Horatio and Zoë. Zoë kicked the door closed and the alarm set itself again.   
“Where’s your bedroom, Zoë?” Eric asked  
“Just up the stairs”  
They got to the bottom of the stairs and started to make their way up. Eric was following closely behind. Zoë quickly ran out of breath and began to slow down, she was exhausted.   
“Are you okay, Zoë?” Horatio asked softly, quickly glancing back to Eric.   
“Yeah, I’m fine, I’m just tired.” She said with a half-smile looking down at the next few steps. She thought to herself: ‘Jesus, how on Earth am I this exhausted when I can usually run for miles with ease? I’ll be fine once I get into bed.’ Her head started to spin as they took another step up.  
“Zoë, just put your arm around the back of my neck, it’ll make it easier for you.” Horatio gently said  
“My door is the first on the right.” Zoë trying to change the subject as she didn’t want Eric or Horatio to see her weakness, she was a strong woman and that’s how she wants to be viewed. Zoë’s legs were getting a little shaky. Horatio put her right arm around the back of his neck and put his left hand around the bottom of her back and held on to her waist to help support her weight. He could see she was struggling. Horatio took most of her weight and helped her up the rest of the stairs as best he could.   
“Eric, could you get the door please?” Horatio asked while they stood in the hall.   
“Sure.” Eric said quickly as he rushed past them to open the door he opened the door and walked in to her room. His face was full of concern as he looked at Horatio, worried for his colleague.   
“Okay Zoë, we’re just going to go into your room and get you into bed, okay?” She slowly nodded with closed eyes as Horatio led her into her room. Horatio took a quick glance around the room and then started to walk to her bed.   
“You okay?” Horatio asked.  
“Yeah, I just need some sleep.” She said with a small smile. Eric had pulled the duvet back. Horatio helped her to sit down.  
“Thank you.” She said sleepily.   
“Eric, don’t forget to put the key back, and don’t forget the code. If Alexx is coming over, be sure to tell her please.” Zoë said.  
“Sure thing Zoë, is there anything else I can do for you?” Eric asked as he stood to the left of Horatio in front of Zoë.  
“No thank you darling. But if you guys want a drink, just help yourselves in the kitchen. I’d make you a drink, but I don’t think I’m really capable of that at this moment in time.” She said with a smile.   
“Okay, just lie down and sleep. Alexx will be over later to re-dress your back. If you need anything, just give either one of us a call, okay Zoë?” Horatio said whilst tilting his head.  
“Okay, thank you.” She said with a small smile.  
“You promise to call us if you need to?” Horatio said with a cheeky grin.  
“Yes, I promise.” Zoë said with her smile widening.   
“Okay, lie down and sleep, we’ll see ourselves out. See you later.” Horatio said softly.   
“Bye guys, thank you again.” Zoë said as she went to lie down.  
“Bye Zoë.” Eric quickly said. Zoë was asleep before they even got out the front door.   
Eric and Horatio got into their hummers and drove back to the lab and updated Alexx. It was little after 9 in the morning and they had just got another case in, they all got working hard on it.

At 2 in the afternoon Zoë woke up and looked at her clock. She slowly got out of bed and walked into her en-suite, she went to the loo and walked back into her room. She strolled over to her draws and got out her pyjama shorts and small strappy top. She slowly got changed and threw the scrubs into the washing bin. She quickly got back into bed and fell asleep almost instantly. Alexx got out of work at 6.30pm and drove over to Zoë’s. She let herself in and walked up the stairs with her kit in hand. She gently knocked on her bedroom door. Zoë woke up and called her to come in. Alexx walked in and took a quick glance around the room.   
“Hey, how are you feeling?” Alexx said as she sat on the edge of Zoë’s bed.   
“I’m feeling a lot better now.” Zoë replied as she looked over to her clock.  
“It’s 6.40?” Zoë asked a little shocked.  
“Yes it is, when did you get to sleep?” Alexx asked curiously.  
“At about 9 this morning!” Zoë said amused at how long she had slept.  
“Girl, you must have needed it then!” Alexx said with a sweet smile.   
“Yeah, I must have!” Zoë agreed.  
“Right, let’s get these wounds re-dressed then.” Alexx said.  
“Before you do that, do you mind if I take a shower? You’re more than welcome to make yourself a drink, I’d make it for you, but I doubt I’d get back up those stairs.” She said with a smile as she sat up in bed.  
“Yeah sure.” Alexx said with a smile as she got up and went down stairs and got herself a glass of water. Zoë got out of bed and had a quick shower. She got into her pj’s again and walked over to her door where she called to let Alexx know that she was ready. Alexx walked up the stairs and walked into the room. Zoë sat down on the bed and Alexx sat behind her.  
“Do you mind if I lift your top up slightly?” Alexx said cautiously.  
“Yeah, go ahead.” Zoë answered calmly. Alexx pulled the old bandages off.  
“Do they still hurt?” Alexx asked.  
“Not really, I mean, they sting every now and then, but it’s really not that bad.” Zoë said honestly.  
“Well, they seem to be healing very well, I shouldn’t think that I’ll have to change your bandages anymore, you’ve pretty much already almost healed! You should be able to take them off tomorrow.” Alexx said surprised that Zoë had already almost healed.  
“That’s good news!” Zoë said smiling to herself while Alexx carefully re-dressed them.   
“Thanks Alexx.” Zoë said gratefully.  
“Not a problem baby.” Alexx said smiling as Zoë turned around.   
“Now, have you eaten today?” Alexx asked curiously.  
“Horatio brought me some food this morning.”   
“This morning? You need to eat baby. What would you like? I’ll make you something.”  
“It’s okay Alexx, I’m fine.”  
“No, you’re going to eat something, even if it’s small.”  
“I can make myself something, thank you Alexx.”  
“No, you’re going to stay in bed while I make you something, anything. A sandwich? Toast?”  
“Okay, a sandwich should be fine, thank you Alexx.”   
“I’ll be right back up.” Alexx said as she got up and took her kit downstairs and made a quick sandwich for Zoë. She brought it back up stairs and gave it to Zoë.  
“I’ve got to shoot off now, but I’ll be round again tomorrow morning, just to check on those wounds, you shouldn’t need them on after tomorrow.” Alexx said with a kind smile.  
“Okay, thank you Alexx, I really appreciate it.” Zoë said with a shy smile.  
“No problem baby. Just give me a call if you need anything, okay?”   
“Will do Alexx.” Zoë said as Alexx got up and left. Zoë ate the sandwich as Alexx let herself out and then put the plate on the side and slid back down into bed and fell asleep.   
Alexx popped round to Zoë’s at 6.30 in the morning and gently woke her.   
“How are you feeling this morning?” Alexx said as she sat down on the edge of the bed and placed a coffee on her bedside table.  
“Better again, I think it’s all this sleep!” Zoë said with a grin as she pulled herself up.  
“Good, do you mind if I have a look at those wounds now?” Alexx asked and Zoë shuffled to the edge of the bed. Alexx gently lifted her top and gently peeled off the bandages.   
“They’re looking better already! I’d suggest that we take them off as they’ve healed enough to take them off and will heal quicker if we take them off.” Alexx said looking for approval from Zoë.  
“Sure, you’re the doctor.” Alexx took them off and threw them in the bin.   
“They may sting a little more now, but it should ease.” Alexx said cautiously.  
“Yeah, I know, thank you Alexx.”   
“Now, you should probably get some more rest.” Alexx said as she got up, Zoë nodded at her.  
“I’ll see you later, I’ll nip round about 8 tonight, okay? Give me a call if you need anything. There’s coffee there as well.” Alexx looked over to the coffee.  
“Thank you again.” They nodded at each other and said bye. Alexx left as Zoë took some sips from her coffee and she then finished it. Zoë got up and went to the loo and got back into bed again. She put her TV on and slowly drifted off to sleep again. She woke at about 5.30pm and sat up in her bed. Her back stung a little, but her head didn’t really sting at all, she did however still have a massive headache.   
Horatio had just finished some paperwork and decided that he’d check up on Zoë quickly as Alexx isn’t able to get there until 8 so Horatio rang her. Her phone rang but there was no answer. Horatio gave it a minute then tried to call again. Again there was no answer. Horatio was starting to get frustrated now. He rang her home phone and again, there was no answer.


	16. Chapter 16

Horatio was starting to get a little panicked now. He got up and quickly walked out of the lab. He got into his hummer and rang Zoë again. There was no answer, once again. Horatio quickly drove over to Zoë’s house and let himself in.   
“Zoë?” Horatio shouted while he took his gun out of his holster. He cautiously made his way up the stairs and into Zoë’s bedroom, the duvet was slung over the bed and it was evident that Zoë had been sleeping there.   
“Zoë?” He called again turning around looking out of the room. His eyes drew him to her en-suite. He slowly walked over to it, his gun still drawn. His eyes dropped to the floor where Zoë was lying in a moderately sized pool of blood that had collected around her head. He immediately put his gun away and rushed over to her. He quickly studied her to see if there was any immediate danger. She was lying on her left side. He looked up to the sink which was close to her and saw that there was a blood smear on it where Zoë had fallen and hit her head, she had re-opened the old head wound she had. She had just gotten out of the shower, before she had the accident she had managed to put her shorts and bra on. Horatio knelt down on one knee and placed two fingers on her neck to feel for a pulse. It was weak, but she had one. He took his jacket off and covered her up.   
“Zoë, can you hear me?” Horatio called but got no response from her. He got his phone out and rang for an ambulance. He bent over her to try listen and feel for her breathing. She was breathing well so Horatio didn’t want to move her for that reason and because he wasn’t sure if she had sustained a neck injury. He called out to her again but got no response. He placed his right hand on her side as he looked up and around to see if there were any more signs of what happened. Zoë took a deep breath and exhaled with a moan. She moved her head and started to looked like she was trying to get up.  
“Zoë can you hear me? I want you to lie still please.” Horatio said calmly. He felt her core muscles tense while he still had his hand on her side. She didn’t stop moving.   
“Zoë can you hear me?” She nodded her head.  
“Don’t move Zoë, you’ve hit your head lie still please. It’s alright, it’s Horatio.” He moved his hand up to her shoulder.  
“mmm” She said quietly.   
“Okay.” Horatio said as he gently stroked her shoulder as he waited for the ambulance arrive. There was a knock at the door.  
“Stay here, don’t move Zoë. I’ll be right back” Horatio said as he got up and ran downstairs to open the door to the paramedics. Horatio quickly showed them up to the bathroom and told them everything. Horatio stood in the doorway and watched them check Zoë over.   
“Do you know how long she’s been here for?” One paramedic asked as he turned to Horatio.  
“I honestly don’t know, I came over to check on her as she wasn’t answering her phone and I found her here. I think she had just got out of the shower.” Horatio said quickly and worried.   
“Okay, we’re going to take her to hospital, she’s not critical, but she definitely needs to be looked over. Her consciousness is altered so that’s something that must be looked at.” A paramedic said. Horatio just nodded feeling guilty that he hadn’t called her sooner. The paramedics stemmed the bleeding and collared her then placed her on the spinal board. They loaded her into the ambulance and Horatio got in with them. He quickly called Eric to let him know that he won’t be back at the lab in a little while and informed him what was going on.   
“Zoë, can you open your eyes for me please?” The paramedic asked. Zoë opened her eyes.  
“I’m just going to put some ECG leads on okay?” The paramedics calmly said. Zoë gave him one quick nod. The paramedic took the jacket off her and handed it to Horatio. Horatio looked away as Zoë was just lying there in her bra. The paramedic placed the leads on and then covered her with a blanket. Horatio held his jacket. The engine started and they started to drive.  
“How are you feeling?” Horatio asked.  
“Marvellous.” Zoë mumbled.   
“Zoë, really how are you feeling?” Horatio asked with a small smile knowing that she was going to be okay because her sense of humour was still intact.  
“I’m fine; I’ve just got a little headache, that’s all.” She mumbled.   
“Zoë, we’re just going to the hospital okay, it’s just precautionary.” The paramedic said. The ECG machine showed that Zoë’s heart rate had increased. Her body tensed.  
“Zoë, don’t worry. I’m here with you; you’re going to be okay.” Zoë took a deep breath and calmed herself down. They arrived at the hospital and unloaded Zoë off the ambulance. Horatio quickly followed. Waiting for Zoë was Doctor Nathan Taylor. He nodded at Horatio and quickly took charge of the situation.  
“Zoë, it’s Nathan, you’re going to be okay. We’re just going to do a CT scan to make sure everything is okay. Are you hurting anywhere else?” Nathan asked softly.  
“No, I have just got a headache.” Zoë said semi-conscious.  
“Okay, we’re just going to take you into that room there where we’ll transfer you to another bed, okay?” Zoë looked over to Horatio.   
“Horatio, you’re welcome to come with us.” Nathan said as he helped wheel the trolley into a room. The paramedics had explained everything to the doctor and left with their trolley.   
Zoë was then taken down for a CT scan, Horatio went with her. While she was having the scan he sent Alexx a message to inform her what was going on.   
Zoë was then taken to another room.   
“I’m just going to have a more detailed look at your scans okay, I’ll be right back.” Nathan said with a smile. He left the room and Horatio walked over to Zoë’s bed. She looked over at him.  
“What happened? Why am I here again?” She said with more consciousness.   
“I don’t know, I phoned but you didn’t answer so I nipped round yours and I found you on your bathroom floor, you must have taken a shower and when you got out you slipped or passed out. I really don’t know.” Horatio said with his head tilted.  
“You found me after I took a shower? I wasn’t naked, was I?” Zoë said with wide eyes.  
“No, no you weren’t naked. You had gotten half dressed.” Horatio said shyly and a little embarrassed.  
“Oh thank God.” She said as she exhaled out deeply. She looked into Horatio’s eyes and she could see something was bothering him.   
“What’s wrong?” Zoë said concerned. Before Horatio could answer Nathan walked back in.   
“Good news, nothing’s broken, all you’ve done is re-opened the old head injury and knocked yourself out. Do you want to tell me what happened?” Nathan said whilst holding her chart in his hand.  
“I honestly don’t remember, I had apparently gotten out the shower and probably slipped.” Zoë answered. Nathan looked up.  
“You slipped? Are you sure you didn’t pass out?” Nathan said questioningly.  
“I don’t know, I really couldn’t tell you. I don’t remember.” Zoë said getting a little annoyed.  
“Well, we’re going to have to keep you in for a few hours at least, just to keep an eye on you. But you should be home by this evening. I’ll have the board, collar and things taken off you soon.” Nathan said trying to break the tension.  
“Good, thank you.” Zoë said. Nathan nodded and walked out.  
Zoë turned back to Horatio who thought he had gotten away with not answering.   
“Are you going to answer my question?” Zoë said with a cheeky smile. A nurse then walked in while Zoë was just about to interrogate Horatio. Zoë hadn’t really noticed though.  
“Don’t mind me, just come to get those blocks and collar off and to get the board.” A nurse said. Zoë’s eyes widened and she instantly started to panic. She ripped the straps off the blocks and sat up with the collar still on. The safety bar was up on both sides so she couldn’t get off easily. Horatio was stood close to the bed.  
“Zoë, Zoë, calm down, she’s not going to hurt you.” Horatio said as he placed a hand on her shoulder. She backed up to the safety bar as much as she could, she reached back and pulled on Horatio’s jacket in his hand. Seeing Zoë’s distress the nurse backed off.   
“I’m not going to hurt you Zoë.” The nurse said. Zoë pulled the collar off and threw it down on the bed. Her breathing became deep and rapid and her heart rate was sky high. She was shaking and trembling all over. The nurse backed right off.   
“I’m going to go and get Dr Taylor.” She said and made a quick exit. Her body was tense and she didn’t move. Horatio was absolutely horrified by her reaction. His mind was racing; he was trying to understand what would cause such a reaction. He tried to calm her down.


	17. Chapter 17

He gently stroked her shoulder with his thumb.  
“It’s okay Zoë, she’s gone. Try and relax. It’s okay.” He said in a soothing voice. Zoë gently let go of his jacket and he placed it on the bed.   
“Zoë, look at me, it’s okay.” Horatio said with his hand still on her shoulder. Zoë’s eyes were firmly planted on the door.   
“Zoë, she’s gone, look at me.” Horatio bent over the safety bar and turned her head with his left hand.   
“Look at me sweetheart, you’re okay.” He said softly. Zoë looked into his calm oceans of blue whilst he looked into her petrified brown eyes. He took her hand and reassured her. Nathan stepped in and asked what had happened. He could see that Zoë was distressed and obviously scared. Nathan stepped closer to the bed and Zoë’s hand tightened around Horatio’s. Horatio shook his head at Nathan and asked if they could have a minute.  
“Sure, give me a shout when you want me.” Nathan turned around and walked out. Zoë’s eyes were on the door again. Horatio tried his best to calm her down.  
“Look at me Zoë, take a deep breath.” Zoë did as he said and she loosened her grip on his hand. As Horatio was talking to her she became more relaxed. She sat on the bed still sitting against the bars but her heart rate had almost returned to normal. Horatio could see that she was still a little distressed, but not half as much as she was.   
“Can I call Nathan back in?” Horatio gently asked. Zoë exhaled and nodded her head. Horatio went and got Nathan. Horatio went back round to the right of her bed. While Nathan stood at the left.   
“What happened there, Zoë?” Nathan asked concerned.  
“Are you feeling okay? Are you feeling hot?” Nathan asked worried that she may be developing a fever. He picked up the thermometer and leant over to her but she tensed up.  
“Zoë, it’s okay, it’s me Nathan. I’m not going to hurt you.” Horatio took her hand knowing that she needed someone to help her along.   
“Zoë, Nathan isn’t going to hurt you; he just wants to take your temperature. I’m right here behind you, okay?” Horatio said giving her hand a little squeeze. Zoë looked at Nathan and exhaled. She then nodded at him to give him the go ahead. He slowly leant over and placed the thermometer in her ear.   
“Okay nearly there.” Nathan said then it beeped. He looked at the thermometer.  
“Well, you don’t have a temperature.” He said confused about what just happened.   
“I’m going to keep a close eye on you, okay?” He looked at Zoë who was beginning to relax a lot more. Nathan went to pick up the collar and blocks when Zoë flinched. He took a step back.  
“I’m just picking up the collar and blocks, okay?” He said reassuringly. He went into pick them up again with Zoë’s eyes fixed on him. He picked up the board too and went to leave.  
“I’ll be back soon.” Nathan said as he left.   
“Are you okay?” Horatio asked very concerned. Zoë nodded as she looked at him. Horatio was very concerned as he had seen similar behaviour many times before but he didn’t pursue it.   
“Are you sure?” He asked with a hand on her shoulder.   
“Yeah, I’m okay. Thank you.” She said quietly.   
“Come on, lay down. It’s okay.” Horatio said with a smile gently guiding Zoë to lie down. Zoë relaxed and Horatio sat in the chair next to the bed.   
“How’s your head feeling?” He asked curiously and still shocked from how he had found her.  
“It feels okay thank you.” She said with a small tired smile. She looked over to him and saw that same look that she saw earlier.  
“How are you?” She asked curiously trying to figure out what was wrong.  
“I’m good, just a little worried about you.” He answered.  
“There’s something you’re not telling me. You better not be feeling guilty again.” She said with a small smile. He looked at her with a small grin himself knowing that he had been found out.  
“Busted” he said with a cheeky grin.  
“Horatio honey, how on Earth is any of this your fault? You’re the one who helped me. Please don’t feel guilty.” Zoë said whilst tilting her head.  
“I should have called sooner, then perhaps I would have stopped this from happening or at least found you sooner.” He said looking down at the ground.  
“How on Earth would you have known anything like this was going to happen? You may be a fantastic CSI, but you can’t predict the future. What happened happened, we can’t help that. Now stop feeling guilty.” Zoë said with a cheeky yet caring grin. Horatio smiled and then nodded.   
“I’ll be out of here before you know it anyway.” She said with a smile.   
Alexx pulled up in her car and rushed into the hospital. She found Zoë and walked in.  
“What happened?” She said worried and panicked looking at Zoë and Horatio back and forth.  
“I had a little accident and slipped in my bathroom.” Zoë said shyly. Alexx put her head in her hand.  
“Well thank God you’re okay. You had me worried, again!” She said with a smile. She looked at Horatio.  
“Horatio, you better not be feeling guilty again!” Alexx said with a raised eyebrow.  
“Don’t worry, I’ve just had that conversation with him.” Zoë said with a small chuckle.  
“How come you ladies can read me like a book?” He said putting his hands up then back down to rest them on his legs with a grin and a small chuckle.  
“It’s a gift.” They said simultaneously. They looked at him and flashed him a smile. Alexx sat down on the chair the other side.   
“So what’s going on then?” Alexx asked waiting to be updated. They told her what was happening and that she should be allowed to go in an hour or so. Nathan came back in and greeted Alexx. He then checked her vitals and checked her over.   
“You should be able to go within the hour.” Nathan said with a wide smile.   
“I’m just going to take the ECG leads off now, okay?” Nathan asked waiting permission. Zoë nodded and Nathan pulled the gown down a little and started to take the leads off. Horatio looked in the opposite direction. Nathan was almost finished when he started having thoughts about Zoë. ‘You’ve got to be the hottest patient that I’ve ever treated. Just look at you. Mmm.’ He thought to himself, he quickly snapped himself out of it and pulled her gown up.   
“Is there anything else I can do for you?” He said while he looked at Zoë.  
“Well, if I’m going to be leaving, I don’t really want to be doing it in this gown.” She said with a cheeky smile. Nathan could feel himself becoming aroused. So he nodded and excused himself.   
‘You could get yourself fired if you carry on like that! Get on top of it man!’ He said to himself as he walked down the corridor trying his best not to think about her. He picked up another pair of his scrubs and walked back to Zoë’s room.   
“I’ll be running out of scrubs before I know it at this rate.” He said with a wide grin.   
“Thank you Nathan, you’re a star.” Zoë said. Alexx mouthed ‘Thank you’ at him as he walked away and he nodded.   
“If you’ll excuse me, I need to pop to the loo.” Zoë said softly. Alexx stood up and walked around to the right and pulled the safety bar down.  
“Do not lock the door; if you have any problems, you give me a shout. Okay?”   
“Okay okay.” Zoë said with another cheeky grin. Alexx took a few steps back while Horatio stood up. Zoë spun herself around and dangled her legs off the bed.  
“Slowly, we don’t want you hurting yourself again.” Horatio said with a small smile.   
Zoë slowly slipped herself off the bed and stood on her feet. She swayed slightly feeling a little light-headed. Horatio quickly grabbed her by both arms to steady her. Once steadied Horatio loosened his grip and only held on to her with one hand on her arm.   
“I don’t want you to hurt yourself if you fall.” Horatio said. They slowly walked over to the en-suite and Alexx gave Zoë the scrubs and she closed the door. Horatio went over to the window and looked out. Zoë went to the loo and got changed. She came back out and Alexx gently helped her to get back to bed. Horatio quickly glanced over just to make sure everything was okay he then continued to study everything going on outside. Nathan walked back in.  
“Ah, that’s better! You know, you wear those scrubs a lot better than we do!” Nathan said with a cheeky smile. Horatio looked over a little shocked about what Nathan had just said.   
“Erm… thanks?” Zoë said not sure how she should respond.   
“How are you feeling?” Nathan asked  
“A lot better, thank you.” Zoë quickly replied.   
“Good, I’ll be right back.” Nathan quickly left.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18 

Nathan briskly returned.  
“Now, if you get any worse, you come right back okay? Or even if you’re unsure about something, give me or Alexx a call okay?” Nathan said looking at Zoë.  
“Okay.” Zoë said with a smile.  
“Good.” Nathan said with a smile.  
“So, can I go now?” Zoë asked impatiently.   
“I’ll bring the wheelchair in, one moment, but before I forget, you’ve got that appointment with me next week, remember?”   
“I know, I’ve written it down.” Zoë replied. Nathan quickly went and got the wheelchair. Horatio helped Zoë off the bed and sat her in the wheelchair.  
“So, when can I go back to work?” Zoë asked curiously bringing a smile to all of their faces.  
“You should be well enough to go back in a few days, but you need to be careful with your head as the wound wouldn’t have healed completely by then. Although, from what I hear, you’re a fast healer!” He said with a smile.   
“A few days?” Zoë questioned.  
“Why, do you want longer?” Nathan asked not completely understanding.  
“No, no! I want less time.” Zoë said correcting herself.  
“No, you’re definitely not ready to go back just yet, give it a few days of rest and you should be well enough. Okay?” Nathan said. ‘She’s one dedicated CSI!’ He thought to himself. Nathan wheeled Zoë out with Horatio and Alexx following closely. Alexx brought her car around to the front of the hospital while they waited for her. She pulled up and Zoë got up out of the chair. Horatio put his hand on her arm.   
“Thank you Nathan” they each said. He nodded and returned back to the hospital with the wheelchair. Horatio helped get Zoë into the front seat and then closed the door. He jumped into the back and they clicked their seat belts into place. Alexx drove them back to Zoë’s place and they got out. Again Horatio gently took a hold of Zoë as they walked up her drive. Alexx opened the door and then closed it after they walked in. Horatio helped Zoë up the stairs and in to her bedroom. Horatio sat her on the bed. Alexx took a peak in to the en-suite.   
“Oh Zoë, I’ll get this cleared up for you right away.” Alexx said feeling guilty for not being able to come sooner.  
“Don’t worry about it Alexx, I’ll do it.” Zoë said as she pushed herself up off the bed.   
“No, you’ve got to rest. I’ll do it.” Alexx said ordering Zoë to get back on to the bed. Zoë’s head began to spin so she sat back down and blinked a few times to try and make it stop.   
“Are you okay?” Horatio said concerned about her.  
“Yeah, I just got up too quickly, that’s all.” Zoë said still blinking.  
“You see what I mean? Now lie down and rest. It’s okay, I’ve got it.” Alexx said picking up the disinfectant, gloves and tissues. Alexx began cleaning up the blood pool while Zoë laid herself down. Horatio wasn’t sure what to do with himself.  
“Do you want a hand Alexx?” He called.  
“No, I’ve got this thanks Horatio.” Alexx called from the en-suite.  
“Is there anything you need, Zoë?” Horatio asked.  
“No, I’m good thanks Horatio.” Zoë said with a tired smile. Alexx finished up and put everything away.   
“There you go Zoë.” Alexx said with a smile.  
“Thank you so much Alexx.” Zoë replied.  
“Thank you so much as well Horatio.” She said with a smile looking at him. He smiled back at her.  
“I’ve just got to ring Eric, I’ll be back in in a few minutes.” Horatio said as he walked out of the room and down the stairs. Zoë got up and started to walk over to her draws.  
“Hey, lay back down you. I’ll get you whatever you want.” Alexx quickly darted over to her. Zoë went to lay back down.  
“I just want a top. These scrubs are too hot.” Zoë said. Alexx opened the top draw and pulled out a top, she handed it to Zoë and then proceeded to walk out of the room.  
“I’ll be right outside if you need me, okay?” Alexx said as she closed the door. Zoë nodded at her.   
Zoë quickly pulled the scrubs off and put the top on. She still had her shorts on so she didn’t need to get anymore out. Zoë got up and threw the scrubs in the washing bin. She then laid back down.   
“You can come in now.” She called out to Alexx. Alexx entered the room and asked if she could do anything else. Zoë said there wasn’t.   
“Call me if you need anything, okay?” Alexx said smiling.  
“Will do.” Zoë replied. Horatio came back up.   
“I’m off Horatio, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Alexx said.  
“See you tomorrow Alexx, and thank you.” He said with a smile. She turned to Zoë.  
“I’ll be over bright and early tomorrow to check on you, okay?” Zoë nodded. Alexx left and put the key back in the pot.  
“You really need to get some rest, if you need anything, you call me. Even if it’s a glass of water, okay? I am only just down the road it won’t take more than a minute to get here. So you call me, okay?” Horatio said concerned.   
“Okay.” Zoë said with a smile.   
“I’ll get you a glass of water now, but if you want anything later, ring me. Okay?”   
“I will. Thank you honey.” Zoë replied. Horatio disappeared quickly and brought back a glass of water and placed it on the side. He took the plate which was there and said bye. Zoë thanked him again. He shut her door and went downstairs. He put the plate in the dishwasher and then let himself out. He got into his hummer and drove to the lab where he picked up his car and drove home.   
Zoë quickly went to sleep and slept the whole night, she woke up and went to the loo, then got back into bed. Alexx turned up and sorted her out some coffee then left for work. Zoë had the coffee and then went back to sleep. Horatio called around at about 4 in the afternoon to make sure she was okay and if she wanted anything. She was fine and didn’t want anything so he went back to work. Zoë went back to sleep. Alexx came back around at about 6.30pm and made her some dinner. Alexx had to leave as her son had come down with a little fever and her husband needed her home. So Alexx gave Zoë the dinner and then left. Zoë finished it and then got out of bed to take the plate down stairs. She slowly walked down and put the plate in the dishwasher. She looked in the fridge for some juice and it was almost bare. ‘Well the first thing I’m going to do is go shopping when I’m allowed.’ She thought to herself. She walked back into the hall and glanced in the living room. The sofa looked so inviting, so she went over and laid on the sofa. She quickly fell asleep. Horatio popped over again at about 9. He didn’t look in the living room and went straight upstairs and opened Zoë’s door. She wasn’t in the bed. His heart began to race fearing that it was a repeat of the night before. He quickly rushed over to the en-suite. She wasn’t in there he rushed down stairs and looked in the living room and saw her fast asleep on the sofa.   
‘Oh my gosh.’ He sighed with relief. Horatio walked over to the sofa and called her name but she didn’t wake up. He gently placed a hand on her shoulder. She woke up and sat up fast.   
“Sorry, I must’ve fallen asleep.” Zoë said dazed.  
“What were you doing down here? You’re supposed to be resting in bed.” Horatio said as he stood in front of Zoë.  
“I was, I then put my plate in the dishwasher, I then sat on the sofa and I must have fellen asleep.” She said with a half-smile.  
“Okay, let’s get you back up to bed.” He said with a small smile.   
Zoë stood up and Horatio took her by the arm as they walked out of the living room and up the stairs. Horatio helped Zoë lie down.   
“Do you need anything while I’m here?”   
“No thank you, Horatio. I’m good.” Horatio nodded at her.  
“I’ll be off then, give me a call if you need anything.” He said as he exited the room.   
“Thank you.” Zoë said with a small smile. Horatio left and drove off.   
Zoë fell asleep and slept right through until 1 in the afternoon the next day. She woke up feeling very refreshed and a lot better than she had been before. She got up and had a shower. She got dressed and decided that she’d go shopping. She got in the car and drove off to the supermarket. She was finished and putting her bags in the boot of the car when she got a call. Horatio had popped round and was sitting on her drive but her car wasn’t there.  
“Where’s your car?” Horatio asked.  
“Oh sorry, I popped out to the shop.”   
“You went to the shop? Zoë, you’re supposed to be resting.” Horatio said in a stern yet concerned way.  
“Yeah I know, I just couldn’t lie in bed anymore and I really feel so much better today. I’ll be back in about 5 minutes.”   
“I’ll be waiting here then.”   
“Horatio, you don’t have to. I’m sure they need you at work.”   
“Yeah, well I need to know that you’re okay.”   
“Okay, I’ll be there soon, I’ve just got in the car. See you soon.”   
“See you soon.” Horatio replied. He was beginning to get panicked. ‘She shouldn’t be driving. She shouldn’t be doing anything at all. She could crash! She could… I don’t know… pass out at the wheel or fall asleep. She knows it’s dangerous.’ He thought. While Zoë thought ‘Oh dear… I’m in trouble…’ She pulled up into her drive and Horatio got out of his hummer and walked over to Zoë’s car. She got out.  
“What did you think you were doing?” Horatio said panicked from all of the disasters he was thinking about.  
“I had no food in the house. I had to go shopping. I felt fine, I feel fine. I’m really okay Horatio.” Zoë said as she closed her car door and walked around to the boot.  
“You could have ended up back in that hospital.”   
“Anyone could end up in the hospital when they go out.” Zoë opened the boot.  
“You know what I mean, Zoë.” Horatio replied then Zoë looked at him.  
“There’s no need to worry, I’m fine.” She picked up a few bags.   
“Well at least give me a few to carry then, I can’t have you carrying all of them.” Zoë handed him a few bags and she closed the boot. She flashed him a smile. They got into the house and Horatio closed the door after him. They walked through to the kitchen and placed the bags on the island counter.   
“Do you want a drink, Horatio?” Zoë casually asked.  
“No thank you, but you need to go to bed.” Horatio said quickly.  
“Horatio, you don’t need to worry, I’m fine. Really.” Zoë said as she started to unpack the bags and put the food away. Horatio pinched the bridge of his nose. Zoë put something away behind him and then placed a hand on his arm.   
“Really, I’m fine. You don’t need to worry, so stop worrying.” Horatio looked at her and could see that she seemed to be better; she had got her old ‘bounce’ back again. She quickly put the rest of the food away and put the bags in the cupboard.  
“Can I get you anything Horatio? A drink? Something to eat?” Zoë asked as she sat at the island counter.   
“No, I’m good thanks. All I want is for you to go back to bed.” Horatio said as he looked at her.  
“If it will make you that happy then fine.” Zoë got up with a smile trying to act pissed off.   
“It will, thank you. I’m only trying to look out for you.” Horatio said as he watched her walk out of the kitchen.  
“Let me get dressed then you can come and make sure I’m in bed.” She said walking out of the door. She walked up the stairs and got dressed. She threw her clothes in the washing bin and then heard Horatio walking up the stairs. She got into bed and sat there. Horatio knocked on the door.  
“Come in.” She said, he opened the door.  
“See, I’m in bed. Are you happy now?” She said with a cheeky smile.   
“I am indeed. I’ll leave you to it. Ring if you need anything and you better not get out of that bed for anything.”   
“I will, thank you Horatio. Oh and by the way, I’m coming back to work tomorrow.” Zoë said waiting for his response.  
“You what?” Horatio said slightly shocked.  
“I’m coming back to work tomorrow.” She said grinning.  
“I don’t think so.” Horatio said scuffing her words.  
“I can’t just do nothing all day when I feel better.”   
“I’ll make you a deal. If you’re well all day tomorrow, you can come back to work the next day?”   
“Fine.” She said with a grin, happy to know that she’ll be going back to work.   
“I’ll see you tomorrow okay.” Horatio said with a grin, happy that he had won.  
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” She said with a defeated smile, but still very happy. Horatio closed the door after him and left. Zoë quickly went to sleep. She was woken up by Alexx who had just popped over to check on her head wound.   
“It’s healing really well. You should be able to take the bandage off in a day or two.” Alexx said with a smile.  
“Fantastic, I’m back at work tomorrow, so that’ll be good!” Zoë said happy.  
“You’re back at work tomorrow? Are you sure? You should take some more time off.” Alexx said concerned.   
“Alexx, I feel great, I feel refreshed and better. I can’t lie around here all day anymore. It’ll do me some good.” Zoë said with a big smile.   
“Hmm… we’ll see about that.” Alexx said worried but happy that Zoë was happy.   
Alexx left and Zoë went down stairs to get a coffee. She went through to the living room and sat down. She read a book while the sun came up. She went back up stairs and opened the balcony doors and sat outside for a while. She fell asleep in the glorious sunshine and was woken by Horatio who stepped out on to the balcony.   
“Enjoying the sun?” He said smiling, he was happy knowing that she was actually resting.   
“Yeah I am, it’s a wonderful day! Take a seat.” She said smiling at Horatio in the sun. Zoë looked down and saw that she was still in her pyjamas.  
“Oh gosh, I’m sorry Horatio; I’ll go and get changed.” She didn’t want to make him uncomfortable as her pyjamas consisted of some small shorts and a small strappy top.  
“You don’t have to change on my account, I’ll be off soon anyway, I need to get back to the lab.” Horatio’s eyes wandered. He quickly snapped himself out of it. But her tanned silky skin enticed him.  
“I need to get off now, I just popped over to make sure you were okay.” He said trying to turn his gaze to the sea.   
“Is there anything you need?” He asked.  
“No, I’m good thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow at work?”   
“Yeah okay, bright and early, like usual.” Horatio replied with a smile. Zoë stood up.  
“I’ll show you out.” She said kindly.  
“Don’t worry, you sit back down and rest. I know my way out.” He said with a smile and his head tilted.   
“See you tomorrow” Zoë said.  
“See you tomorrow then.” Horatio replied, his eyes going on one last quick wander. Zoë hadn’t noticed she was enjoying the sun too much. Horatio left and Zoë sat in the sun some more. She then moved into the shade and read a book. Time flew past and it was dinner time before she knew it. She made herself some pasta and went to sit back out on the balcony. When she finished she put her plate in the dishwasher and tidied up. She went back out to the balcony and watched the sun go down and started to doze off. She was woken by Alexx walking out on to the balcony.   
“Hello, how are you feeling?”   
“Really good thanks, I’ve spent most of the day out here, it’s been so relaxing.”   
“I’m glad to hear that!” Alexx said with a big smile. Zoë smiled back  
“I need to check your head wound, is that okay?” Alexx asked.  
“Sure, go ahead and sit down if you want to.” Zoë said with a smile. Alexx put her gloves on and pulled the bandage back. She inspected it and it was healing very well. She re-dressed it and she then left. Zoë went to have a shower and got into bed, she put the TV on and watched for a while and then set her alarm for the morning. She slowly drifted off to sleep. Her alarm went off at 5am. She got up and had her coffee. She then put her running gear on and went for her early morning run along the beach. The sun wasn’t up yet, but the horizon was light. She returned home at 5.45 and got into the shower. She got out got dressed and sat down for a cup of Tea. She then put her badge, ID and gun holster on and placed her gun in the holster. She headed off for work at 6.25am and got to work around 6.40. Most of the team were not there yet, except for Horatio, who was always early. Zoë got herself up to date with all of the cases she had missed while being away. The rest of the team started to turn up and they all welcomed Zoë back and wished her well.   
Another case came in, Ryan and Zoë were put on it while Eric was still looking at evidence from a previous case. 

The End

If you could review the story and how you feel it went, I’d be most grateful, I feel that I need to improve on the ending; endings are really not my strong point.   
Thank you all for taking the time to read! 

 

ShutUpAndPaddle

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that Calleigh's story will be revisited in a later story.
> 
> Thank you for taking the time to read, and I hope you will continue!


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